The Magnifying Glass

Spring Preview: A Simple Project

This is our third winter in what you could actually call the seasons. While living in southern California as the seasons changed we would talk about the subtle changes in the light, the changes in temperature... of a few degrees... or the lack of tourists at the beach. Since moving to Nova Scotia we have truly experienced the seasons and all the wonderful transitions they have to offer. Of all of these transitions the one from winter to spring is the only one I wish to push along a little bit. I have a feeling I am not alone in this desire to push spring. 

We still have a good deal of winter ahead of us here and we usually save this project until our spring is a little closer but this weekend we could not resist. We went out to collect some budding branches for a little spring preview. 

It is good to take samples from hardwood trees. We cut maple, cherry, lilac and apple. Be sure to ask permission if you would like to collect from trees that belong to others.

We took some pictures to remember what they looked like when we started. This would also a great time to encourage your young naturalist to draw some pictures in their nature journal. We are going to draw ours this week. 

We placed the stems in vases and found a nice light spot to watch them. It is good to get them into water as quickly as possible before the ends seal up. You can also make a fresh diagonal cut once you are indoors and ready to place them into the prepared vase.

 

In years past it has been very exciting to see them open. With all of the snow we have on the ground right now we are really looking forward to this spring preview.

Have you had any signs of spring in your area? We would love to hear about them.

~ Dawn

Bird Week Giveaway Winner! + Share Your Tallies

Thank you to those families who joined us for Bird Week and posted their tallies to enter the giveaway!  Our winner, selected via random number generator, was Kelly, who homeschools her kids (in the UK, I believe), and blogs at We Are Here and Wildhood.  Kelly, I'll be contacting you via the e-mail you provided to us to get your mailing address.

Here is Kelly's family's bird count, with her notes:

Great Tit sightings :: 24 no idea who is who, as they all bundle into the garden in a noisy heap!
Blackbird - two juveniles and a male adult
Wood pidgeon
Pair Robin
Male Magpies x3 - Often sighted annoying the pidgeons, quite possibly just for sport as I can't see any other reason to fly straight at a roosting pidgeon!
Great Gulls - 6 in the air, have never seen them on the ground.
house sparrows - approx 8 although they never stay still long enough to be accurately counted!
Blue tit - 2 visiting each day.

Congrats to Kelly and thanks again to all the families who joined us--we will continue to have giveaways throughout the year so we hope you come back and participate in those. 

 

* * * * * * * *

For anyone who participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count who didn't enter the giveaway, but would like to post their tallies, feel free to do so in the comments to this post! We would love to hear them.

I'll share our family's count from our "best" day.  Sadly, when the home behind us was sold recently, they chopped our very dense evergreens back, and the birds haven't returned in the numbers we're used to:

2 mourning doves
3 black crows
2 blue jays

 

And, just for fun, I thought I'd share my father-in-law's count--he loves bird-watching and lives in a very rural part of Virginia, near the water.  I took this photo of his bird-feeders--you can see that the goldfinches stay on all winter and even sit at the feeders during a raging snowstorm with the wind whipping the feeders around!

All of these were spotted from his porch during the bird count weekend and reported as part of the official Great Backyard Bird Count tally.

a "gazzillion"--but officially--18 goldfinches (naturally!)
2 house finches
3 mourning doves
5 black crows
1 mature bald eagle
1 immature bald eagle
1 turkey vulture
6 mute swans
14 Canadian geese
4 bufflehead ducks
3 herring gulls
and 1 eastern bluebird--just after they put up their new bluebird house--so he was very excited.

Again, whether you saw 1 bird or 50, please feel free to share your tallies in the comments to this post. The Bird Week giveaway is closed, of course, but we're still curious to hear about your bird counts.

 ~ Nancy

Make-along microbe biosphere: Week 4

Quick note: today is the last day to enter our giveaway of the Charley Harper poster. Just post your bird tallies in comments by midnight Eastern time (U.S.) and we will spot them.  The winner will be announced tomorrow, February 25.

* * * * * * * * *

Here are the previous posts about our biospheres:  Ingredients, Making the Biosphere, Week 1, and Week 2. (Week 3 we were on hiatus for Bird Week.)

We’re (finally!) starting to see a bit of activity in our microbe biosphere. At the very top of the mud there’s a new, thin black layer. The water is now brown and cloudy, and sitting on top of the water is a thin shiny film.

Anne's family also has a biosphere that is really perking along. Here's a photo she took almost 10 days ago--lots of things growing in there!

Let’s turn to our ingredient of the week, light, which works with water in a special way (beyond what we discussed in Week 1) to make food for some microbes.

Ingredient of the Week: Light

You’ll recall that our final step in creating microbe biospheres was to place our jars in indirect sunlight. Grownups can guess why: some microbes (though not all), act just like plants by using sunlight and water to change carbon dioxide from the air into food for the plant.

You can show a young child how plants rely on the sun by taking two small green plants. Put one in a dark closet, the other on a window sill. Water them both as the plants need it. Which plant survives—and thrives?

So we know plants need the sun. But what is sunlight, anyway? When the sun shines, it’s sending us light in super tiny pieces we call photons.  The photons our eyes see as rays are the same photons that plants—and some microbes--use as energy to make food.

Sun setting over Lake Michigan.

You might think microbes that use sunlight to make food are tiny plants. In fact, scientists have carefully studied these microbes and found them to be very different from plants in almost ever other way.  Microbes that use sunlight to make food are living creatures, but they belong to their own family (or scientific group) that is separate from plants and animals.*

Still, we can learn a lot about how microbes use sunlight by studying plants. You’ll notice that most plants are green—it comes from a substance we call chlorophyll. Plants use chlorophyll in their leaves to stop photons and capture them. The photons’ energy is then used to make food.  Microbes, like plants, use chlorophyll to capture light, too.

How does the chlorophyll in plants catch the photons in sunlight? The photons travel from the sun with different amounts of energy. In a stream of sunlight, the photons are travelling all together and we see the color of the light as almost white. But if the photons are separated by their energy levels, either by drops of water in the sky or with a glass prism, we can see that light is a rainbow of photons.

Back to green plants. As confusing as it seems, a green plant isn’t really green. Instead, photons at “green speed” are bouncing off the plant and back to our eyes, so we see the plant as green. But light is made of lots of several different colors—so what’s happening to the other colors of photons from the rainbow? Most of them are staying inside the plant, captured by the chlorophyll which stopped them in their tracks.

Spinach leaves.

Microbes that use sunlight to make food do the exact same thing. Their color (“pigment”) stops the bits of light we call photons so their energy stays inside the microbe.** The microbe then uses the photon energy, together with air (carbon dioxide), as well as water, to mix the carbon and water into sugars called carbohydrates. (We talked about carbon in Week 2.)

Eventually, we may see large groups of these microbes in our jars. Even as we speak, microbes are using sunlight to help make sugars. These sugars will give the microbes energy to make more microbes until their families are big enough for us to see.

~ Nancy

 

* There are microscopic plants called algae. Microbes that mimic algae in some ways (by living in water and using light to grow food) were once thought to be algae, but DNA studies show that they are not very similar to each other otherwise.

**  Microbes that use chlorophyll to catch light usually aren’t green.  Their colors range from black, to blue-black and blue-green, even orange and purple. The green chlorophyll is still in there, but other substances keep us from seeing the familiar green we see in plants.

The Dino-Bird Debate

Today is the last day of The Great Backyard Bird Count. We hope you have had the chance to get out and spend some time with your local feathered friends. Don't forget to report your numbers on the giveaway post for a chance to win the wonderful poster by Charley Harper.

We have had some fun encounters here is our own backyard with blue jays, chickadees and woodpeckers, along with a few other frequently spotted locals. The most exciting moment was a brief visit from a small hawk. I don't think the regular avian crowd would call in exciting. It was much more terrifying for them.

It was business as usual at the feeder and in the forest, chickadees chasing the juncos, gold finches darting about, the woodpeckers hopping around the trees trucks pecking away, the jays chattering high in the trees, when all of a sudden everything went quiet and everyone disappeared or froze. In the very next moment the doves, who I had not even spotted in the apple tree, went fluttering away and in flew a sharp shinned hawk. Silently it flew through the yard and landed just beyond the tree with the feeder. A poor little chickadee was frozen on the feeder perch. Sitting long enough for me to take note of it's features the hawk took flight and departed just as quietly as it had arrived. The wee chickadee on the feeder must have remained there for another ten minutes after the hawk vacated the yard. It took much longer for everyone to come out of hiding and for life at the feeder to resume. 

I imagine that the fear that hawk instilled in the feeder crowd is the same fear any other meat eater instills in potential prey. 

This encounter made me think about birds of prey. Which led me to thinking about our recent visit with a great predator of the past (to read more about the T-rex predator or scavenger debate click here.)

And of course this train of thought led me to the relationship between dinosaurs and birds. So there you have it... that is how my mind works!

It is amazing that the debate about the relationship between dinosaurs and birds has been going on since Thomas Huxley first suggested that birds evolved directly from dinosaurs in 1869. In 1861 a fossil called Archaeopteryx was found in Germany. The fossil had clearly visible feathers and wings but also had teeth and a tail that looked like a reptile. This fossil find and his own fossil and bird bone observations led Huxley to the conclude that there was a relationship between dinosaurs and birds.

Of course Huxley's suggestion led to a divide in the scientific community. The theory came in and out of favor over the years. If you are really interested in learning more about the history and theories Dr. Paul Willis wrote an informative article about about the debate. 

Most of the speculation has been based on comparing bone structure. The similarities are many (some count up to 85 according to Willis' article) but include hollow bones, similar anklebones and fused collarbones (called the furcula or wishbone.) In 2008 scientist who were studying a protein they said was recovered from T-rex bones claim that their "finding is the first molecular evidence that birds, not lizards or other reptiles, are the closest living relatives of dinosaurs..." Of course there are still skeptics out there.  

While the scientists are sorting it all out you decide. 

Is this guy related to T-Rex?

We would love to hear what you think!

~Dawn

A (Very Surprising) Backyard Bird

The Great Backyard Bird Count has started—and we hope you’re participating! It only takes 15 minutes. Join in, keep your tally handy and come back Tuesday through Thursday and tell us the birds you saw. You'll get a chance to win a lovely Charley Harper poster in our giveaway. International families welcome to join, no need to have a blog. Read more about the giveaway here.

Our backyard birds are very beautiful. On a typical spring day, we see glorious red cardinals and charming chickadees. A pair of blue jays give fierce chase as another bird flies too close. From the tree tops, mockingbirds sing exquisitely.

Most birds that we see near our home, while fascinating in their own right, are hardly ‘rare.’ So we were very, very surprised—as were all our friends—to discover a pair of bald eagles nesting just half a mile from here.

Although we live minutes from downtown Washington, D.C., I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. A powerful river, the Potomac, rolls past this city, and in recent years the river has made a bit of a comeback (cleaner, more full of fish). Here the river is quite wide, with steep banks lined with tall trees (tulip poplars and sycamores) perfect for a large bird of prey thinking about starting a family.

And so they have. This nest isn't new—it's likely several years old—and for the past few weeks, a pair of bald eagles have been spotted adding to it. We heard about the nest from a dear friend and fellow nature-lover. Since that day, we’ve taken several family walks to see these impressive birds.

Typical of bald eagles, the mama and papa take turns at the nest. We can’t be sure, but it seems likely there are eggs they’re guarding and keeping warm. Other times, both birds leave the nest for extended periods, sitting on large branches nearby, staring out over the water.

Perhaps the most remarkable part is that their stand of trees is in the median of a very busy highway. Thousands of cars roar past daily as commuters travel to and fro. Overhead, commercial jets fly past about every 10 minutes. Peaceful and bucolic, this is not.

There is more than a bit or irony, sharing our bald eagle sightings in honor of the return of backyard birds.  But this nest lies next to a neighborhood—people pass by, walking their dogs or taking their morning jog, day after day.  When I stop and ask someone on the trail if they’ve been watching the eagles, as often as not, they say they’ve never seen the massive nest nor spied the pair of huge birds.

I’ve pondered what we’ve learned from our visits to the nest. If someone asked, I’d say, nature isn’t always this showy. Much of its beauty is far more obscure. The very best place for families to start appreciating the outdoors is with the tiny ant, the glimmering web, or the flitting of the backyard wren.

Our eyes are first opened by the small, quiet bits of everday nature. Only then can most of us see the ostentatious when we happen upon it.

For a closer view of other nesting bald eagles, visit these eagle cams:

Norfolk Botanical Gardens Eagle Cam; see also their FAQ page (Thanks to Eren!)

Blackwater Refuge (Cambridge, Maryland) (this one shows the nest both day and night)

~ Nancy

Backyard Birding: Harbingers of Spring

The bulbs are starting to pop their little heads up and you are even beginning to see little buds on the trees.

But it is the birds we are looking for. 

One of my most favorite nature memories is hearing the distinctive honk of the Canada Geese.  Most of the time you can hear them before you see them and I would gaze up at the sky, my hand shadowing my face and look for the telltale V-formation of the flock of geese.  Last week, I couldn't help but smile when I noticed my boys, eyes skyward, straining their necks in search of the geese. 

The birds are the real harbingers of Spring for us!

Here on the Virginia Coast we are situated directly in one of the four main flyaways, or migrating corridors.  We see the geese when they fly South as well as when the begin to head North again.  We began seeing the telltale V formations just last week.

The boys and I watched Fly Away Home during one of our snow days a few weeks back. If you need a flick to support bird week this is a good one.  It is such a great resource for lots of information on geese and how they learn to navigate their route from their parents.  But beware mamas, I don't remember it being so sentimental when I saw it the first time. Have your tissues at the ready!

We spotted the first robin last week.  We've seen a few house sparrows, one of our favorites.  And the first red winged black (and his noisy friends) bird just this morning!

The welcome mat has been laid out for any other birds that might be heading our way.  Seed is in the feeder.  Nesting materials gathered and at the ready.

We haven't spotted our beloved Ospreys yet.  But one good thing about keeping a nature journal is that by looking at our post from last year, it looks like we have another few weeks before they arrive.

But I have to tell you, the bird we just can't stop watching is this little guy...

It is a yellow bellied sapsucker.  We like him for just his name alone.  Ask your kids to say "yellow bellied sap sucker" 5 times fast and watch them giggle.  He is a member of the woodpecker family although he makes holes in the tree not for the insects, but to lick up the sap that runs after he does his work.

Just look at the holes he has made in the trunk of our American Holly Tree!

What birds to you see as harbingers of Spring?

On Backyard Birding.

Before we moved to Vermont, I always thought of backyard birding as a fairly humble enterprise.  My daughter, I think, had similar feelings.  As much as we love a fat little chickadee or a busy sparrow, both of us have always had a fondness for particularly large birds, or those with a little extra flair.  Storks, herons, eagles.  Not your typical backyard feeders.

But, we have both also been long-time followers of the ongoing hunt for the Ivorybill Woodpecker in the Southern United States.  I've read most of the books that have been written on the subject, and Mariam and I have listened to a number of interviews and podcasts about the search.  The result has been a growing love for woodpeckers, both large and small.  However, considering our predilection for the big and fancy birds, the pileated woodpecker (the largest woodpecker after the Ivorybill) quickly became a household favorite and the bird that we most wanted to see in our own yard.  

So of course, the day that he showed up outside the living room window was an exciting one.  Mariam was at school, so I quickly snapped this photo to share with her.  And the experience made me realize that backyard birding can be a completely different experience when you approach it with patience and a watchful eye.  I wasn't out in the yard with binoculars when our woodpecker came to call; I was sitting at the dining room table eating some toast.  But I've become so accustomed to glancing around at the trees in the yard, just in case, that I made a pretty good find.  And that is exactly what I've been trying to teach my girl.  Be observant, take the time to look up.  This has served us well.  We add this pileated woodpecker sighting to a list that includes cardinals, yellow bellied sapsuckers and even a turkey vulture.

All spotted right outside our door.  

--- Annie

Turkey Vultures, Roadrunners, and Hummingbirds: An Interview with Kimberly Hosey

 
Kimberly Hosey's images are hard to get out of your head. She creates them with words and photographs on her blog, Arizona Writer,her flickr page, and in her published work. Those vivid images lodge themselves in your head and prompt you to pause, stare, laugh, gulp, and wonder how she did it. As a writer, photographer, nature nut, wife and mother of David (age 9), Kim somehow juggles it all with quick wit and grace.

When I found out about Bird Week on The Magnifying Glass, Kimberly came to mind. I knew I wanted to highlight her bird photographs, but to be honest, I also wanted to pick her brain and try to learn a bit from her. One of my big frustrations in life is that, although I frequently have a camera around my neck, I rarely have any success in getting photos of birds.  Kim kindly agreed to an interview and in addition to generously sharing her photo tips, Kim shares her favorite birds and thoughts on kids and nature. Please join me in welcoming Kim to The Magnifying Glass.

Welcome to The Magnifying Glass, Kim! Your photographs are stunning, especially the wildlife shots. How did you get started? Do you have any special tips? What sort of camera/camera gear do you use?

Thank you! I only lately have considered myself a photographer. As recently as my son's early years, I didn't even own a camera and had taken about five photographs ever. I finally was given a cheap point-and-shoot in 2003 and it kind of took off from there. I wanted to share the things I was seeing and experiencing. Seeing -- watching, studying, spending time with something -- is really my best tip. In some ways, I've learned more about wildlife in my few years of photography than in all my previous years of study. It's because it takes the same skills to learn about an animal as it does to take a good wildlife photograph: Be still, stick around for a long time, and pay attention.

Beyond that? Get down to the subject's level. Take tons and tons and tons of shots. Shoot just after sunrise and before and leading into sunset. But mostly, just stick around and watch. I'd been propped against a tree trunk for thirty-five mintues before I got my favorite hummingbird shot, and it was SO worth it.

I don't have very fancy gear. My regular gear consists of a Canon Rebel XS 10.1MP digital SLR camera, the kit lens it came with, a Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III telephoto lens, and the very occasional gear that I beg, borrow, or rent. About 99 percent of my photos are taken with one of these two lenses. You can do wonders with what you've got, if you make it work for you. That said, I'd dearly love a heavy-duty telephoto or macro lens.

 

In honor of Bird Week at the Magnifying Glass, can you please tell us which birds have recently been visiting your back yard in Arizona? And are you planning on taking part in the Great Back Yard Bird Count?

We've been inundated with hummingbirds! For the past two years now we've had Anna's hummingbirds nesting in our backyard tree, and we've been able to watch the courtship and nesting and, later, watch the young grow each day. They're feisty little birds.

We've also hosted a roadrunner, several red-tailed hawks, mourning doves, white-winged doves, finches, and sparrows. We don't have to travel far to see countless other species. My mom's yard has Gambel's quail and curve-billed thrashers, the park has huge flocks of yellow-headed blackbirds, and the nearby Gilbert Riparian Preserve hosts close to 200 bird species.

I do plan to take part in the Great Back Yard Bird Count this week, and my son wants to participate as well. As if we needed an excuse to go bird watching.

 

 Do you have a favorite bird? Does your son, David, have a favorite bird?

That's a hard one. I particularly love turkey vultures; I'm fascinated with their grace and how they can make utility out of waste, beauty out of garbage. Also, I could spend an entire day just watching the red-tailed hawks and listening to their calls. The rarer sightings are exciting too -- a friend once found me on a hiking trail and dragged me a mile out of the way to see an elf owl. I got to see a broad-billed/violet-crowned hybrid hummingbird at Boyce Thompson Arboetum; that was really exciting.

My son's almost as indecisive. I asked him, and here's his answer: "Oooh. I don't know ..." (silent deliberation for at least five minutes) ... "Maybe a cardinal. They're at the top of my list. Burrowing owls are really neat too. And roadrunners! Put that one for sure. Tell them that a roadrunner let me stand really close."

 

 I first became familiar with your work through your Kids and Nature Flickr group. What prompted you to start that group?

For my master's thesis in writing, I was writing a manuscript on children and nature, using my own experiences with my son as a reference point. I began to share some experiences online. While I found many, many kindred spirits, I also found a moderate contingent of people who would scoff at all but the most postcard-worthy, touristy nature experiences. For example, when my son investigated a snake or held an insect, these people were (and still are, if my e-mails are any indication) horrified. How could I MAKE him do such a thing?

I had to believe that this was the minority opinion, and I started the Flickr group as a way to collect photos from around the world of kids interacting with nature. It's fabulous. Exploration comes naturally to kids. Adults forget; we tend to either ignore nature or demand what it can do for us. Kids just watch. Touch. They love it for what it is. Adults teach a lot, of course -- my son's learned which animals not to touch, for sure -- but we could learn a lot from children.

 

As the proud mama of nature-loving boy, do you have any advice on how to nurture childrens' interests in the natural world?

Join them! That's the biggest one. Nature walks, hikes, photography, and just being outside have been behind every best experience my son, my husband, and I have ever shared. It doesn't always even matter where you go. We pulled off the side of the road one day and found a hidden waterfall after a heavy rain. Just go outside.

Obviously, if you've got an enthusiastic kid who's going to be around animals, make sure they're also knowledgeable and careful. In Arizona, that means knowing which animals are dangerous and how to identify them (black widow spiders, Gila monsters, rattlesnakes, and a few others), and how to behave around any animal, dangerous or not. I always emphasize knowledge and caution, but never fear. He's not afraid of a single animal, but he'll never put himself in unnecessary danger. The same caution goes for outdoor wisdom about hiking, injuries, dehydration, and the like. He's not a Boy Scout, but he's definitely prepared.

Encourage, but don't force it. I can rhapsodize all day long about the hawk overhead, but if my son would rather watch the geese on the ground, I've learned it's best to let him. On one trip to the lake, I tried to get him out of the water to watch a heron. He stubbornly remained in the water, not defiant, just matter-of-fact. In five minutes, water birds were swimming around his submerged shoulders, and bats were swooping within inches of his head. He was overjoyed. Kids know how to appreciate the natural world. We just have to get them there.

 

Can you please share a few of your favorite nature-related posts from your blog?

I wrote a little while ago in praise of turkey vultures with some gorgeous pictures of my favorite turkey vulture. (Doesn't everyone have a favorite turkey vulture?) I really think they're beautiful, seldom-understood birds.

Lately, I've been on a black widow spiders kick. I'm fascinated by them. I discuss my fascination and our project to raise black widow spiderlings, and I cover them a bit here as well; but if you'd like to see a slightly less mature (but funnier) black widow incident, check out the night I wore a hundred black widows. I'm not immune to nature-related misadventures and freak-outs. I just try my best to respect all life.

 

Kim, Thank you for the photo advice, your beautiful images, and your witty words. We'll be eager to see what happens with your Black Widow project.  Happy Bird Week to you and your family in Arizona!

Kim blogs about parenting, nature and more at Arizona Writer. Check out her Flickr stream here. Visit or join the Flickr group "Kids and Nature" here.

---Lucia

Winter Bird Watching

This winter had provided us with many opportunities to watch birds. We have been delighted to discover that so many species stay in our area during the winter, over 150 have been recorded by some dedicated bird watchers. You may be able to find a list for your area by searching in google. I simply typed in Nova Scotia, birds, winter and came up with the link above. 

We have learned that beyond the backyard feeder a great location to spot birds in the winter is any place there is open water. When I say open water I mean water that has not been totally frozen over. We recently had the opportunity to go on a winter bird walk with our local Young Naturalist Club and were excited to see so many different types of birds in a pond with open water, right in the middle of the city. 

 

In the picture above are male and female mallards and black ducks. It was great to see up close the differences between the female mallards and the black ducks. The black ducks are much darker and have more uniform coloring but they are often mistaken for female mallards by armature bird watchers like us. 

That day we also saw geese, two types of gulls, pigeons, coots, song sparrows and some escape domestic ducks. 

If you are not sure where to find open water this winter you may want to call your local parks and recreation department, ranger station or Museum of Natural History. You could also try to contact an Audubon Society chapter in your area or simply take a drive out to your local ponds, lakes, rivers or shore line. You might be surprised at who you will find hanging around this winter.

Happy bird watching!

~Dawn

 

Bird Week at TMG + Giveaway

 

It's Bird Week here at TMG, in honor of The Great Backyard Bird Count coming up at the end of this week, from Friday, February 18, through Monday, February 21.

Join us as our contributors talk about the birds in their own backyards and beyond.

We're also featuring a giveaway of this lovely Charley Harper poster:

The poster is 16-1/2 inches wide x 23-1/4 inches high and would look great hanging on the wall of a bedroom or playroom!

To participate in the giveaway, simply join in The Great Backyard Bird Count. Follow the guidelines for the Count. (Here's a PDF version of these instructions.)  Plan to count birds for at least 15 minutes on at least one day of the count (or more if you choose).

You don't need a blog to participate.  International families outside of North America, you may also participate in the giveaway; follow the guidelines for the Bird Count, but skip the step of entering your tally on the Bird Count website. 

Then, come back here next Tuesday, February 22, through Thursday, February 24, and post your bird count totals in one of the posts for those days. The winner will be drawn via a random number generator, and the winning entry will be posted on Friday, February 25.

If you take photos, be sure and share links to pictures on your blog or to flickr, and post photos to the TMG flickr pool.  Grab a Bird Week blog button if you'd like.

We hope you'll join us for Bird Week here at TMG and have fun watching birds wherever you may be!

~ Nancy