You can do it in your neighborhood, school yard, church ground or from your back porch: Spend a short time next weekend counting birds and then reporting the results online.
It’s the annual Great Backyard Bird Count, a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society with partner Bird Studies Canada. The count begins Feb. 13 and runs through Feb. 16.
Participants — young and old, beginner and veteran birders — are asked to count birds for at least 15 minutes (or as long as you wish) on one or more days of the four-day event and report the sightings online at birdcount.org. The website provides instructions for registering and reporting and also has tips on identifying birds.
Launched in 1998, the GBBC has grown by leaps and bounds. At first, only a few thousand birders across the United States and Canada participated. This year, tens of thousands of bird watchers are expected to take part.
What’s more, the annual survey has expanded worldwide to include 135 countries. Last year, individuals and groups in those countries submitted more than 144,000 reports, or “checklists,” of all the birds they saw or heard during the count period. Most of the checklists came from the U.S. and Canada, followed by India, Australia and Mexico.
Globally, nearly 4,300 bird species were identified — close to half of all the planet’s known bird species. Bird watchers in India reported seeing the highest number of species, 819. Some 630 species were seen in the United States.
Closer to home, Georgia ranked 11th among the states for number of checklists submitted — 4,067. Altogether, Georgians tallied 201 species during the count. The red-winged blackbird was the most abundant bird reported in Georgia and the rest of North America.
The results help researchers determine whether bird populations are increasing, declining or holding steady — and help us learn what birds inhabit our neighborhoods.
In the sky: The moon will be last-quarter Wednesday, said David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer. Mercury is low in the east just around dawn. Venus is in the west just after dark and sets about two hours later. Mars also sets in the west a few hours after dark. Jupiter rises in the east around dusk and is visible all night. Saturn rises out of the southeast a few hours after midnight and will appear near the moon Thursday night.
About the Author
