This is a great idea Caroline!! Hope lots of people participate. Linda
Sent from my iPhone On May 7, 2014, at 3:49 PM, Caro <carolinemanr...@gmail.com> wrote: > There's the Big Year, the Big Day... I know people who do Big Sits... And > now, introducing the Big Yard. > > After finding out over the past few days, just by paying much closer > attention, that my own yard can yield almost fifty species in a single day > (and counting!!), I'm inaugurating a new game in the vein of staycations, > small carbon footprints, making do, and discovering what's right under your > nose: The Big Yard, May 7-31, 2014. > > Anyone can participate (so go ahead and forward this to anyone not on this > list who might want to play). > > The rules are: > 1) all birds counted must be visible and/or audible from your property > 2) day tallies must be made within one day (12:00am to 11:59pm), with a new > tally starting on the next or any subsequent day. At the end of the month, > you submit to me, via email, your biggest day's species total, with street > address, approximate property size, and any notes you want to include. > 3) you can borrow a friend's yard if you don't have one of your own, but no > one can combine two yards for any one day. > 4) no calling Sapsucker Woods your yard! The idea is to stay more or less > where you are. > 5) you may recruit helpers (kids, partners, friends welcome), and your > efforts may be combined for the same Yard. Be wary, though, of the enthusiast > who lets her imagination create Little Blue Herons at her feeder. > > Winners may occur in the following categories, plus any others that seem > necessary: > Most Species in a Single Day, > Most Species of the Game (5/7-5/31 species total) > Best Behavioral Observation, > Best Reporting Style, > Most Yard Lists Submitted to eBird, and > A "Bird Poker" Award (full house of woodpeckers? Royal flush of sparrows?)-- > in other words, most birds from one family group. > > Prizes are TBA, but in the spirit of the game, they'll likely be > no-marginal-cost and/or imaginary, and will include having your newly-won > title announced formally to the venerable Cayugabirds list-serve, with > highlights from your daring feats of observation. > > I'll be the judge, will not be allowed to win anything, and will consult > experts as needed. > > I encourage you to submit all of your tallies to eBird!! Who says only the > hotspots are hot spots?? Let's populate eBird with new heavily-birded > locations! > > Reply off-list if you want to say you're participating or if you have > questions. I look forward to hearing what you find. You can do this game even > if you can only bird your yard once or twice between now and the end of the > month. > > Think you have only House Sparrows and an occasional American Goldfinch? I > dare you to look/listen again. And again... > > Caroline Manring > West Hill, Ithaca > > > > > > > > Sent from my iPhone > -- > > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
