As part of Project FeederWatch, I’m keeping an eye on our feeders two days out of the week to help scientists track winter bird activity, abundance and diversity. It’s a great way to spend an hour or two drinking coffee and peering out into the rain. I’ve also decided to start a yard list of all the birds that visit our backyard.

This week, winter bird traffic at the feeders was fairly light, although the species of birds were different from last week. The weather has been stormy and wet for most of the week with record amounts of rain.

Here’s our species list for this week:

• White-crowned Sparrow
• Song Sparrow
• Dark-eyed Junco (including one Slate-coloured Junco)
• Chestnut-backed Chickadee
• Spotted Towhee
• House Finch
• Downy Woodpecker (both a male and female)
• Northern Flicker
• Mourning Dove
• Bewick’s Wren
• Sharp-shinned Hawk