Great Backyard Bird Count, Okinawa-style

The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) of 2013 is February 15-18.  This year, for the first time, the GBBC is getting together with eBird, such that EVERY list submitted to eBird will also be recorded in records for the GBBC.  Pretty neat!

Most of the birds I have seen in my yard are insectivores or omnivores.  They don't seem all that fired up about seeds, so I sliced an old-ish apple I had in the fridge.  The smallest slices, almost like potato sticks, I scattered on a small table and chairs set-up in our backyard, as well as on the ground nearby.  Then I wedged larger apple slices in the trees near the side of my house offering the best view.

The apple slivers were a hit with some of the thrushes and bulbuls.  I never saw any birds at the apple slices I'd wedged in the trees, although they were all gone by the evening.  From 0630-0740, our yard had a whopping six species:

Brown-eared Bulbul - 2

Light-vented Bulbul - 3

Japanese Bush Warbler - 1

Japanese White-Eye - 1

Oriental Turtle Dove - 3

Pale Thrush - 2

Here are the few decent photos I was able to get.  The picture of the Pale Thrush getting an apple sliver from the tabletop was in the early morning and through the window.

Pale Thrush atop our table getting some apple.

Japanese White-Eye