It's only four days, but the Great Backyard Bird Count, Feb. 16-19, is an important event for bird science that can make for a fun weekend for the whole family. It doesn't matter if your “backyard” is a window with a nice view of a tree or a bench in the Santa Monica Mountains, your observations make a difference. You can count for an hour one day or all four days. It's just important to get out there and count birds. If you already use the Merlin bird app, use it to submit your results. Sign up here.

Left: A family counts birds in their back yard

And while you're out counting the birds, why not feed them? February is National Bird Feeding Month, because the cold times in February are when birds need those extra calories the most. A simple feeder with sunflower, millet and bits of peanut will provide all the nutrition they need.

 

 

 

                    Right: Western Bluebird looking for a good nesting box

Beautiful Western Bluebirds need to nest in cavities, such as holes in dead trees. But, if there is a dead tree in your yard, you cut it down, of course. That's why many people put up nesting boxes for Western Bluebirds so they have suitable nesting sites. If they do come to your nesting box, make sure you have plenty of live mealworms, so they can keep themselves and their babies well-fed.

Keep watching, as Project FeederWatch continues. The sightings you collect and report using eBird are important data for keeping our bird population healthy.

A busy small gray bird with a bold white stripe next to a black stripe across its wings may turn up at your suet feeders this winter. It's a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a common winter visitor. Kinglets often join Warblers, Bushtits and other bug-eating birds in mixed flocks scouring your bushes for insects. The male's ruby crown shows up only if the kinglet is agitated, when it will make a noisy fuss, flitting around your yard.

Left: A male Ruby-crowned Kinglet shows off his bright-red crown

 

Look for Northern Flickers at your suet feeders. They are in the woodpecker family and, like their tree-drilling cousins, enjoy some good suet alongside the sunflower seed.

American Goldfinch males begin to molt this month into their bright breeding plumage. They have been more numerous at feeders this year than it the past, probably because in winter they run our of the natural foods they love in the mountains. Some are showing up in mixed flocks with Dark-eyed Juncos, Chipping Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers. All will come to feeders to get sunflower chips.

          Right: An American Goldfinch male is ready to enjoy a feeder

If your local Scrub Jays are noisier than usual, and demanding more peanuts, that's probably because they have a nest. The female incubates, while the male brings her food, so he needs all the food he can find. Jays mate for life, and share building the nest and feeding the chicks. 

 

 

 

 

 

Left: A Tree Swallow looks proud of his new house

“When the Tree Swallows return to Ballona” could be a new song title, as these spectacular aerobats are becoming established there. The wetlands provide an ample supply of the insects the swallows need to eat, and locals, such as Friends of Ballona Wetlands, have put out nesting boxes. To their delight, six hatchlings from 2022 returned to the wetlands last year. Who knows how many will be back this spring?

They are one of the largest birds we can see in this area and they nest right next to houses and streets. Great Blue Herons are numerous along the canals and waterways around Marina del Rey, and now they are nesting. Look for their stick nests high in trees near the water.

Southern California's star Bald Eagles, Jackie and Shadow in Big Bear, have three eggs as of this writing. But they're not the only local bald eagles on cam. Check out the multiple nests with cameras on Catalina and the Channel Islands by the Institute for Wildlife Studies and Explore.org. There's plenty of action and many new eggs to be seen.