Are you participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count? Tell us what birds you see where you are!

This morning, February 17, a beautiful little blue bird landed on our front steps, in the pouring rain, then dashed away. Never have noticed a blue bird right here before! So pretty.

Today 14 February 2026 as nearly every day we deafened by the sulfur crested cockatoos, we laugh with the cookaburras, and irritated by the brush turkeys. The tawny frog owls nest in the metasaquoia. The rosellas, noisy and Indian minors are in abundance as also the blackbirds and magpies. There are 4 eastern rosellas and 2 king parrots. I hear the New Guinea butcher birds but couldn’t see them. There are chirps and squawks of others I can’t see in the trees in the garden. A crimson rosella couple too and a few galahs. I live in a leafy suburb of Sydney and in a valley on the edge of a forest about 300 m from a major highway. All we can hear is birdlife and the occasional car passing by.

Dark-eyed Juncos, Tufted Titmice, House Sparrows, House Finches, Mourning Doves and European Starlings will dominate. Some White-throated Sparrows, Black-capped Chickadees, Song Sparrows, White-breasted Nuthatches and my resident Carolina Wren will make appearances, as well as Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. Also dropping in will be Northern Cardinals and Blue Jays, dressed in the bright colors I crave in the dreary season. This is what i get at my feeders in southern new jersey.

From 14:00 February 14, 2026 until 16:30 of the same day I have seen Pilated, Downy and Red headed Woodpeckers, Gold and purple finches, Cardinals, Chickadee, Mocking Birds, King bird, Red Tail Hawks, Crows, Stalings, Black birds, Catbirds, Junko, Nuthatch, Turkey Vulture, Vireo, Robins, Cooper Hawk.

You could say the usual birds.

But there were many others I did not see during that time but we have also in Virginia...i just did not see them during the two and half hours of watch.

jpm

Our daily visitors include: House finch, Chickadees, House sparrows, Titmouse, Juncos, Mourning doves, red-bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, bluebirds, Carolina Wrens, Cardinals, Bluebirds, Grackles, Starlings and Nuthatchs. The local Red-tailed hawk scares them away often and we have a Sharp-shinned hawk that preys on the doves at the feeder.

I sit & watch birds for fun, I'll be happy to count.

We enjoy keeping our local birds fed and watered during the year. They really appreciate it during the frigid NE winters.

I just submitted my first checklist for this event! I spent part of my lunch break watching the birds that came to my freshly filled feeder. Mostly it was the usual suspects. But to my delight three gorgeous male Northern Flickers showed up. There was also a dramatic moment when a Red-tailed Hawk approached--the birds at the feeder vanished into the nearby bushes and went silent until the threat passed.