Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Count the Birds - It's Time for The Great Backyard Bird Count!

One of the Citizen Science Projects I'm involved with is the Great Backyard Bird Count. It's a fun and easy way to help scientists figure out the size of  bird populations around the country. Read below about how you can participate.

If you are counting for Project FeederWatch from February 17 through 20, you can count for the 15th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) as well!  Help create a snapshot of where winter birds are across North America.

The rules for counting birds for the GBBC are simple: record the highest number of each species that you see at a single time, submitting a checklist for each day that you count.  And you can report any birds you see, even those birds flying overhead. No registration is necessary. Simply enter your counts at
www.birdcount.org.

It’s a step well worth taking to make sure the GBBC database includes your information and collects as many observations as possible. After you enter your checklists on the GBBC website, take a few moments to explore reports coming in from across the continent and upload images for the photo contest. Tweet about the birds you’re seeing by including the #gbbc hashtag; your comments will appear in the Twitter widget on the GBBC home page. Just by participating in the GBBC you’ll be entered into a drawing for great prizes. The GBBC is a joint project of the 
Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society with Canadian partner, Bird Studies Canada and sponsorship from Wild Birds Unlimited.


It doesn't take much time and watching birds is enjoyable. You can do it for one day or all four days. You can watch for 30 minutes or all day. You can do it at your home or when you're out on a walk. And take pictures of what you see. There are prizes! What are you waiting for - do it!

Oh - and what were the tracks I took the pictures of yesterday?
A: coyote
B: mice - lots of them
C: squirrel
D: raccoon (These tracks were on my driveway. Had raccoon tracks there again today - a regular runway)
E: rabbit

No comments:

Post a Comment