Great Backyard Bird Count: Day 2
Saturday – February 19, 2022 is Day 2 of the Great Backyard Bird Count. We did 6 different eBird checklists today in Ringgold, Catoosa County, Georgia. We covered backroads from one side of Ringgold to the other. We spotted 21 different species of birds.
I learned the hard way that any more than 2 checklists per day gets a bit crazy if you’re taking photos too. I spent 5 hours sorting through photos and uploading to eBird.org. Deciding which photos went on which checklist got really time consuming, plus it was a lot of photos to sort through because I take so many.
Ebird Checklist 1: Saturday – Morning Drive 11:03 am – noon
We drove from our house on one side of Ringgold, Georgia to the city of Ringgold, down Alexander Bridge Road to Mag Williams Road to Red Belt Road to Poplar Springs Road, to the Catoosa County Dump, to City of Ringgold. This was about 14.3 miles. Here is our bird count:
- Canada Geese – 17
- Mallard – 2 (male and female)
- Black Vulture – 12
- Turkey Vulture – 1
- American Crow – 12
- Carolina Wren – 4
- European Starling – 30
- American Robin – 21
- Northern Cardinal – 5
Ebird Checlist 2: Saturday – Morning Drive Home 12:50 pm – 1:14 pm
We drove back from the city of Ringgold, Georgia home to our house on the other side of Ringgold via a different backroad route, which is 8 miles. We didn’t start counting until we got to the Food City on Poplar Springs Road. We took Poplar Springs Road over to Alexander Bridge Road and home.
- Eastern Wood Pewee – 1
- American Crow – 1
- European Starling – 1
- Northern Mockingbird – 2
- American Robin – 1
- Song Sparrow – 1
- Yellow-rumped Warbler – 1
- Northern Cardinal – 2
Ebird Checklist 3: Saturday Afternoon in Field 1:12 pm – 1:27 pm
We went out in our field to dig holes for fruit trees. Started with 15 minutes of bird watching. Mid-50’s clear day, some breeze.
- Turkey Vulture – 1
- Song Sparrow – 1
- Red-winged Blackbird – 35
- Northern Cardinal – 2
Ebird Checklist 4: Saturday Afternoon in Field 3:14 pm – 3:40 pm
After we planted four apple trees, we took a break to look at birds between the edge of the field and the ditch.
- Mourning Dove – 12
- Turkey Vulture – 4
- Red-bellied Woodpecker – 1
- Carolina Wren – 2
- American Robin – 1
- Eastern Towee – 5
- Northern Cardinal – 18 (10 male, 8 female)
Ebird Checklist 5: Saturday Afternoon in Field 4:00 pm – 4:15 pm – Collins side of field
Half of the field is ours and the other half is my sister’s. Our properties run lengthwise down to the Chickamauga Creek. I sat on the property line between our property and my sister’s and pointed my camera at a large thicket of trees and brush in her field.
- Mourning Dove – 3
- Turkey Vulture – 1
- Northern Mockingbird – 2
- Field Sparrow – 3
- Eastern Towhee – 2 male
- Red-winged Blackbird – 1 male
- Yellow-rumped warbler – 1
- Northern Cardinal – 4 (2 male, 2 female)
Ebird Checklist 6: Saturday Evening in Field 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
My sister’s property runs along ours and then there’s another farm separated by a tree line and fence next to my sister’s property. I walked the length of my sister’s property down to the creek, looking the fence line and trees and whatever I could see on her property. I walked back via our property and sat with Dave at the entrance to our field for a while until I got cold and tired.
Great Blue Heron – 2
Turkey Vulture – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 1
Eastern Phoebe – 1
Eastern Bluebird – 2
American Robin – 1
Field Sparrow – 10
I’ll be posting more photos I take as I do more Animal Bird Symbolism posts and dive deeper into what we can learn from each of these birds.
The Great Backyard Bird Count in 2022 is from February 18 – February 21st. It’s held every February if you’d like to participate in a future one.
© Photos Copyright, Marnie L. Kuhns. All Rights Reserved.
