The Campbell Reporter
Cover Story
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Fly By: Bird enthusiast Jane Jordan, who took Lisa Myers' birding class at the Campbell Community Center, has counted 35 bird species in her back yard in Saratoga. She has a variety of feeders.
Flock Together
Backyard bird count happens in Campbell
By Alicia Upano
The Great Backyard Bird Count combines hobby with weekend relaxation, suburban living with open space preservation, and scientific study with amateur birding. Campbell residents can join the birding fun Feb. 16-19.
The 10th annual Great Backyard Bird Count is hosted by the National Audubon Society and Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, and encourages residents in the United States and Canada to take 15 minutes out of their weekend to enjoy and tally the birds in their back yard, local park or school yard.
Last year, participants in the Great Backyard Bird Count logged in 623 species and 7.5 million birds across the continent. This information helps scientists track bird populations and migration patterns.
In Campbell, for example, residents counted 33 species, including 177 Canada geese, 132 American coots, 96 double-crested cormorants and countless other mallards, rock pigeons and House Finches. Campbell resident and Let's Go Birding founder Lisa Myers says neighbors need only a pair of binoculars and a birding field guides to begin backyard birding. The Great Backyard Bird Count's website also offers an online bird guide and a checklist of birds that live in the area.
Jane Jordan, who took Myers' birding class at the Campbell Community Center in 2005, makes a list of birds she thinks she might see during the count. She makes notes of a bird's field markers--belly and breast color, beak shape, feather length and other characteristics--before the bird can fly away. She then tries to identify the bird in her field guide, she says.
Jordan frequently birdwatches from inside her Saratoga home, which enables her to observe a wealth of feathered creatures without scaring them away. She's counted 35 species in her back yard. Jordan says up to 100 birds visit her back yard daily.
"It's like watching a Broadway show. There's singing, dancing, comedy, drama and almost no plot," Jordan laughs.
Nine species of birds twitter around Myers in Jordan's busy back yard. Myers can recall riding horses in this area before the homes were built. She would spot hawks when walking the trail to the barn, and it ignited an interest in birds.
Today, however, shopping malls, homes and roads have paved over much of the birds' natural habitat, Myers says. Property landscaping has also created an unintended problem. This environment change has lead to a decrease in native plants, which naturally attract birds. The plethora of outdoor house cats has also dramatically increased the number of predators. Before cats became so plentiful in the area, birds had to deal with only an occasional bobcat in the wild, Myers says.
That's why back yards such as Jordan's are such a wonderful compromise between suburbia and open space, Myers says. The back yard features water for birds to drink and bathe, food for them to eat, and bushes and trees where they can duck away from danger.
While Myers found a love of birds at a young age, Jordan says it was a 1998 trip to Costa Rica that won her over. Costa Rica is home to exotic and colorful birds, and is known as a birding hot spot. She had put out a hummingbird feeder when she first moved in to her home in 1970, but decided to hang up a few more bird feeders after the Costa Rica trip. The birds took awhile to find the feeders but eventually began frequenting them daily.
"They were emptying in a day," Jordan says. "I kept getting more and more feeders."
Today, Jordan has eight feeders full of different seeds. The safflower is for the finches and native pigeons, suet for the woodpeckers and warblers, thistle for the goldfinches, and nectar for the hummingbirds. She also planted rosemary after she saw a goldfinch enjoying the plant in someone else's yard.
From the front of Jordan's house, a passerby can hear the birds chattering in the trees. A number of birds sit in a tall elm tree, waiting for a chance to feed.
"It's kind of like lining up at the drive-through," Myers says.
Myers and Jordan say early morning is best for spotting birds, and that the hobby is easy for beginners.
While only seven Campbell residents participated in last year's Great Backyard Bird Count, the event's sponsors encourage many people to get involved. Neighboring cities have attracted a number of birders. Last year, more than 40 participants submitted bird counts in San Jose, as did 30 from Los Gatos. California was one of the top 10 participants in last year's count, and Livermore the state's top community.
Bird Resources:
By Alicia Upano
* To learn more about bird- watching, there are a variety of resources available throughout the Bay Area and online.
* The 10th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count, Feb. 16-19, is open to all ages and skills levels of people who enjoy birds. Results can be tracked in real time on the web, and participants can win prizes, including binoculars and birding resources. For more information, visit www.birdsource.org/gbbc.
* Residents can attract birds, butterflies and wildlife into their backyards by creating a backyard wildlife habitat. As part of the certification by the National Wildlife Federation, residents may hang bird feeders and install birdbaths. Visit www.nwf.org/backyard to learn how to become certified.
* Let's Go Birding, founded by Campbell resident Lisa Myers, offers backyard birding and group instruction. For more information, call 408.656.7524 or visit www.letsgobirding.com.
* Backyard birders can buy birdseed at the Wild Bird Center, 792 Blossom Hill Road, Los Gatos, or Wild Birds Unlimited, 5263 Prospect Road, San Jose.
* The San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory hosts tours, classes and bird walks. For more information, visit www.sfbbo.org. The Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society also offers numerous birding field trips and events. The society can be reached through www. scvas.org.
