Backyard Bird Count: The Brazil Version

I've learned in the past few years that every February, there's an official Backyard Bird Count in North America. It's a way for amateur bird watchers to help out in counting what species are where, as some study group tracks migration patterns, and are numbers of various species increasing or decreasing or staying the same. It's a fun little thing to participate in, and it happened this past weekend.

Being in Brazil, which of course is South America, I can't go to the Backyard Bird Count website and post my results officially; it's North America only. But I can post here, and since I managed to get photos of almost all the birds I saw, I thought it would be fun to share with you.

We feed the birds in our yard, so all of these are "regulars" to our yard. We often sit out on a Saturday and just watch the birds coming and going. Some have definite personalities, and we've come to know the hummingbirds, even, as "the mean one," "the nice one," "the baby," and "the brown one."  I only got pictures of the mean one and the nice one; the baby is too fast and the brown one stays for too short a time. She's very pretty, the brown one, so I hope to someday capture her on film.

Here they are, then, for you to enjoy -- what birds frequent a yard in urban, tropical Brasil in February. You may click on any photo to enlarge it, just remember to click the back button after if it opens in the same window.

The Mean One - and above him, see the little yellow bird peeking out?

 hummingbird: we saw a total of 3 of the blue/green hummingbirds, though at most 2 at a time. 

The mean one chases off anyone else when he's around. 

two of the small yellow birds, drinking from the hummingbird feeder

We have a huge number (for us) of these small yellow birds living in the vine that shades our yard. 

The highest count I had at one time was 7+; they are hard to count, as they hide in the vine and move around a lot. I can say for sure there were 7 at one point, maybe more. Most times we can count 5 or 6 before becoming uncertain if we're re-counting the same birds, just moved around. 

The Nice One, mid-drink

"A Pool Bird" - one of the big yellow birds
We are not sure if these are adult version of the small yellow birds (yellow belly)
or a different breed. We have TONS of the small ones who hang out all the time,
and probably 3 or 4 total of the big ones who come around.
We call them "pool birds" because we first noticed them hanging around the pool at the apartment. 

 Highest count at one time this weekend was 2 for these large yellow birds. 

I'm not sure if they are adult versions of the small ones, or a slightly different breed. 

Two blue birds, eating papaya. I think male/female pair. 

 Highest count this weekend was 2 for the bluebirds; sometimes we've had 3 or 4. Usually they come in male/female pairs, as seen here. They are a bit skittish and usually do not come while other birds are present, except for the small brown birds (shown further down). 

one of the small yellow birds, after taking a bird bath. 

 We keep that little basin full of water for the birds to use as a bird bath. 

I loved seeing this one all fluffed up and messy, just out of the bath. So cute! 

2 blue birds, eating papaya; 2 large yellow/pool birds, waiting their turn.
(click to enlarge)

 High Traffic! Two blue birds, two big yellow birds. If the blue birds had seen the yellow ones, 

or the yellow ones had moved closer, the blue birds would have left. 

Most of the birds do not share the fruit or eat at the same time as other species. 

Both of these, however, have lately been feeding each other (the male feeding the female of the pair). 

two big brown birds.

These big brown birds are Mean! They chase off each other and the other species of birds who try and eat while they are there. Highest count at one time for these was 4, though I've seen up to 6 at one time in the past. They are fun to watch, as they do a lot of posturing, chasing, etc. before settling down and letting one another eat. I just don't like when they do that to the other breeds of bird, too. 

same two big brown birds

blurry, sorry, but only shot of this guy I got.
This is a small brown bird, black face and black marking on the chest. There are 2 or 3 of these who come around,
though less often than the other regulars. 

 I only saw one of these guys this weekend; there are 2 or 3 who come around, but not as frequently as our regular crowd. They are very pretty, though, and I'm disappointed I only got this very blurry shot.

Quite a crowd!
click to enlarge -- there are 3 small brown birds (not the black chested ones) and 1 blue bird
eating the papaya/waiting by the shelf, plus another small brown bird on the planter at the right. 

 The small brown birds -- highest count this weekend was 4 at one time, and they are all shown in the photo above (click to enlarge). These little ones will also come into the laundry room and use the dog's water dish as a bird bath, and they will land on our picnic table and eat crumbs. Brave little things! 

(also in the photo, one of the blue birds)

a dove on the neighbor's solar panel, behind our house. 

A lone dove; usually they are around in pairs. We are inundated with doves and pigeons; houses here spray anti-pigeon spray around the roofs and things. They make a huge mess, roosting on your eaves and, well, cleaning up what falls on the ground below them....not fun. Ick, ick, ick. 

I didn't go around looking for the pigeons, so don't have a count (can't see them from the yard, since they are on the roof) but there are tons. The doves, not as many, and not as annoying, either. 

This is a short video (really audio) clip of the small yellow birds singing in our shade vine.

Turn up your volume, and enjoy! This is our sound track most weekends, all day long. 

Did you participate? Did you even know such an event takes place each year?? What birds, if any, do you normally see in your area??