Backyard Phenology

I decided to focus my 2025 birding on my own backyard (Missouri, USA). Here are some of the results.

Total species: 86

• Species variety heatmap
• Radial bar chart

Slowest month: Feb (27 species)

Biggest month: May (46 species)

Biggest day: 24 May (19 species)

Species observed for more than 100 calendar days:

• Blue Jay - 347 days
• House Finch - 294 days
• Northern Cardinal - 279 days
• American Robin - 246 days
• Black-capped Chickadee - 215 days
• House Sparrow - 182 days
• Eastern Bluebird - 164 days
• Red-bellied Woodpecker - 140 days
• Carolina Wren - 136 days
• Downy Woodpecker - 127 days
• Dark-eyed Junco - 125 days
• Cedar Waxwing - 116 days
• American Goldfinch - 111 days
• Northern Flicker - 108 days

Notable Seasonal Species:

Summer Birds	First of Season	Last of Season	Calendar Days Observed
Barn Swallow	9 Apr	2 Sep	45
Northern House Wren	15 Apr	9 Jul	33
Brown Thrasher	29 Mar	8 Jul	33
Grey Catbird	2 May	26 Aug	18
Chimney Swift	9 May	6 Aug	18

Winter Birds	Last of Season	First of Season	Calendar Days Observed
Dark-eyed Junco	27 Mar	14 Oct	125
White-throated Sparrow	28 Apr	8 Oct	44
Golden-crowned Kinglet	18 Jan	8 Oct	14

Other bird notes:

• A Swainson's Thrush showed up in late April and sang almost nonstop for 2 weeks
• Red-breasted Nuthatch is not a common bird in my area. But after coming to my yard in early September, these 65 observations represent about 6% of all historical county records of the species. White-breasted Nuthatches are generally more common, but I only had 18 observations in 2025.

Methodology notes:

• I submitted at least one checklist to eBird everyday. The vast majority of these checklists were tagged "incidental" since I added species to the list throughout the day
• "Early" = days 1-10, "Mid" = 11-20, "Late" = 21+
• Charts were generated by downloading my eBird data and processing it with some of my own terrible Python code

My thoughts:

• No, I didn't add a lot to my life list, but that wasn't the goal.
• I've gained a deeper appreciation for the everyday birds. I've never been one to chase rarities & vagrants anyway.
• Consistent observation over time can be immensely rewarding.