Yard birding

COVID-19 is heavily restricting movement here in Bangladesh. The government has shut down most businesses and is encouraging people to stay at home. So we’re just hunkering down and only going out for groceries when needed. Because we homeschool it doesn’t affect our school at all. One upside to staying at home is I’ve been able to do more birding from our rooftop and been having fun getting to know the birding here better!

I’ve gotten three yard birds in the past week or two: Blyth’s Reed Warbler and Barn Owl on the same day, then Booted Eagle a few days later. The Barn Owl was actually a lifer: #593!

Many individuals and birding groups are encouraging birders to bird their yards with not going out these days. Jen Sanford has started one yard challenge on the 5MR Facebook group. On the 25th she said, “The yard challenge officially starts yesterday! We’ll keep track through April 30th (maybe longer if necessary). Bonus points for various breeding-related behaviors, cool insects/mammals/cloud formations/whatever, daily eBird checklists (5 points if you do a yard list every day during the challenge), and for colder climates, a point for each inch of snow on the ground. Nonsensical point keeping is up to each individual. Share bonus point suggestions along with your observations (don’t forget location!).”

People have really gotten into this challenge. I love numbers and keeping track of stuff, so I made a google spreadsheet of my birds seen during the challenge and any bonus points. So far I’ve gotten 30 species and 8 bonus points for a score of 38!

Most of this post will just be random photos of varying quality with some explanations. Photo opportunities aren’t usually great from our rooftop/house, but I’ve gotten a few decent shots still.

A pair of House Crows are nesting in a palm tree right behind our house. No eggs yet, but they’re usually sitting on the nest…

This Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker perched nicely on the krishnachura (Bangla name for a gorgeous flowering tree) just outside my 5th story bedroom window, offering my best photos of this species so far.

This Eurasian Kestrel has been perching on the rebar sticking out of a building under construction nearly every single evening.

The teak tree in a neighboring plot has been easily my best producing tree. I had my first yard Blyth’s Reed Warbler in it. I’ve also seen Spotted Doves, Asian Koel, Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker, Rose-ringed Parakeet, House Crow, Common Tailorbird, Red-vented Bulbul, Chestnut-tailed Starling, Oriental Magpie-robin, House Sparrow, and Coppersmith Barbets in here. It’s also the only reliable location for Spotted Doves, and two or three can often be found perching on the one branch.

I also found this bizarrely weird and cool insect on a potted boroi tree on our rooftop. I had no clue what it was, but someone on iNaturalist identified it as a Scale Insect (Superfamily Coccoidea). My iNat observation here.

Two phone shots from this afternoon: one of the sunset and the other of sunrays coming through the bougainvillea.

I was also able to set up a bird feeder on our side verandah. I’m expecting the House Sparrows to show up shortly, and hopefully the Indian Silverbills will find it soon as well.

Have you been doing yard birding where you are? If so, you’re welcome to comment about it, or any other ideas you have for fun things to do during these times!

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