A male house finch awaits its turn at the feeder.

It has been a few weeks now since the 2021 Great Backyard Bird count took place. It was truly a global event. Over 260,000 birders from 176 countries participated. The stars of course, are the birds — 6,208 species were reported globally. About 130,000 images of the birds and people involved in the count were submitted for sharing. To quote the Cornell Ornithological Laboratory, it “hoped that we had as much fun as they did.” I had fun and it seems as though those of you who sent me your sightings did too. A huge thank you goes to Cosette, Suzy, Shelley, Susan, Joan and Marcia.

To summarize, I heard from Pomeroy, Washington, the Long Beach Peninsula, Graham, WA, Edmonton AB, Courtney, B.C. and Calgary, AB. Collectively, we reported 34 species. My friend in Edmonton had the experience of a lifetime. A great horned owl landed on her umbrella-style clothesline and stayed for the rest of the day. She watched black-billed magpies as they gathered and mobbed the bird as it sat on the fence before taking refuge on the clothesline. Another great horned was heard calling before sunrise in the forest across from Tape Lake on the Long Beach Peninsula. Living on a lake means waterbirds are likely to be seen. In this case, Canada geese, American wigeon, mallards, bufflehead, pied-billed grebe, great blue heron and a domestic Muscovy duck were all there to be counted.

House finch and purple finch were among the songbirds observed, along with a few American robins, a varied thrush, spotted towhees, many dark-eyed juncos and chickadees — both black-capped and chestnut-backed. Horned larks appeared in Pomeroy, Washington. They seem to be right on schedule. In my experience over many years, they seem to arrive around Feb. 14. One bird we did not see many of was the gray or Hungarian partridge but a flock of 12 was also observed in Pomeroy. I had hoped it would materialize in Alberta, but it didn’t for this year’ GBBC.

Raptors were also present for the count. A bald eagle, sharp-shinned hawk, red-tailed hawk, cooper’s hawk — and the great horned owl mentioned above — were seen on the peninsula. Sparrows were seen by almost all of us. Golden-crowned, fox and song sparrows were most commonly seen. The golden-crowned sparrows will soon leave, but the white-crowned sparrows will soon take their place when spring migration begins in earnest. Spring may be closer than we think, though. Horned larks and red-wing blackbirds were seen by several of us.

Northern flickers were also reported in most of the lists I received. My co-author of our Long Beach Peninsula birding booklet and I were able to identify and photograph at least two subspecies of the northern flicker (yellow-shafted and red-shafted). Two males duked it out in the yard as they attempted to become the master of the territory. The bird that won the day clung and slept on the trunk of the sea buckthorn tree and it returned the next day in case its rival returned. It was determined to keep the other bird away from one of the best smorgasbords in town. Two red-breasted nuthatches and downy woodpeckers, a female and a male, also visited the Calgary yard.

Jays made the list too. Steller’s jay, blue jay and a California jay were all observed on the count. A spotted towhee, dark-eyed junco, fox and song sparrow each made an appearance in Courtney B.C. and the Long Beach Peninsula. Pine siskins, Brewer’s blackbird and an American robin were seen on the peninsula as well.

Shelley reported 16 Anna’s hummingbirds at her yard feeders. She has had at least this many every day for many weeks now. She has added more feeders to her yard to accommodate them. She has had great fun watching them take turns getting the sweet nectar she makes for them. This will change come the breeding season. Cooperation will likely go out the window when the importance of defending a territory becomes prime.

Thank you again to those of you who let me know what you observed during the four days of the 2021 Great Backyard Bird Count. We saw all the usual suspects and then some. As citizen scientists our efforts helped with the study of birds and ultimately their protection. Thank you. Happy birding!