Enhance numbers by adding water: The Great Backyard Bird Count is Feb. 14-17

As nearby ponds, resacas and horseshoe lakes dried up in the Rio Grande Valley the past two years, I have added a few birdbaths to our property. I positioned two under a mesquite branch outside our kitchen sink window where I use the parallel-to-the-ground branch as a bird feeder, putting handfuls of black sunflower seeds along the branch each morning. I can count on 15 doves, three green jays, three black capped titmice and two cardinals every morning.

Adding the small birdbaths last summer greatly enhanced the entertainment my husband and I get when we look out that window. The other day, the water was a bit shallow. I thought, it’s cold, birds wouldn’t be bathing. I was wrong. Two white-tipped doves came along and made use of the scanty water. After they flew off, I apologized to the birds and rushed out to put fresh water in the bird baths on our property.

An American Cardinal is seen perched in a Black Willow tree. (Courtesy photo by Anita Westervelt)

Water for drinking and bathing is important for birds, even in winter. It helps them preen their feathers, which keeps them insulated and waterproof, according to a blog post at thebackyardnaturalist.com.

Our water feature, even as small as it is, has brought our resident mockingbirds and curved-billed thrashers closer to the house. Golden fronted woodpeckers frequent the mesquite tree, pecking for bugs as well as sunflower seeds and swoop down for a drink or bath. A great tailed grackle occasionally checks out the tree and birdbath, although I have larger ones where the grackles congregate. Great kiskadees hang around the mesquite for the ripe fruit of Turk’s cap that grows around the tree trunk and seem to appreciate the water feature.

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A Golden-fronted Woodpecker. (Courtesy photo by Anita Westervelt)

A Great-tailed Grackle is seen at a birdbath in an orchard. (Courtesy photo by Anita Westervelt)

A Green Jay is pictured at a tree limb feeder. (Courtesy photo by Anita Westervelt)

A Lincoln’s Sparrow hunts seeds on the ground. (Courtesy photo by Anita Westervelt)

A Northern Mockingbird is seen on a mesquite branch. (Courtesy photo by Anita Westervelt)

White-tipped doves are seen in a bird bath. (Courtesy photo by Anita Westervelt)

White-winged Doves are pictured on a mesquite limb. (Courtesy photo by Anita Westervelt)

A Great Kiskadee eats Turk’s Cap fruit. (Courtesy photo by Anita Westervelt)

An American Cardinal is seen perched in a Black Willow tree. (Courtesy photo by Anita Westervelt)

What’s all this got to do with the annual Great Backyard Bird Count? For me, it is an easy way to participate in this critical community science program without discombobulating my daily routine. The GBBC event is as simple as counting birds in one place for as little as 15 minutes. Anywhere you choose to count is acceptable: your backyard, neighborhood, city park, your office or lunch venues. Other excellent birding spots are city water plant ponds, landfills, utility poles and wires, the beach or your favorite nature preserve where experts can help with bird identification.

The GBBC is a global, inter-organizational effort between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon Society and Birds Canada. People of all ages participate in this annual community-driven science count, whether logging one or hundreds of birds.

Last year, Texans in all 254 counties completed more than 10 thousand checklists and observed 384 species of birds — eight more species than were recorded in 2023.

Count dates are Feb. 14 through 17. Check out the site at https://www.birdcount.org/ for information about how to participate and upload count data, the project’s importance to researchers and stories about what has been discovered through this event. Also available are bird lists, apps to download, access to previous year’s results, and a link to watch observations as they populate on the site’s world map.

Anita Westervelt is a Texas Master Naturalist.

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