11th annual Great Backyard Bird Count is Feb. 15-18

If you like counting birds in your backyard, make your effort count for future conservation with participation in the 11th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), Presidents Day weekend, Feb. 15-18.

Sponsored by Audubon, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Wild Birds Unlimited, the North American on-line count creates a real-time picture of where birds are across the continent and contributes valuable information for conservation science.

Anyone of any age or experience level can count birds from wherever they are, home or afield, for at least 15 minutes during any or all of the four days, and enter their highest tallies at http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/.

On the website you can compare results with others, as checklists pour in from throughout the U.S. and Canada. You can also view bird photos taken by participants during the count and send in your own digital images for the online photo gallery and contest.

“The GBBC is a great way to engage friends, family, and children in observing nature in their own backyard, where they will discover that the outdoors is full of color, behavior, flight, sounds, and mystery,” said Janis Dickinson, Director of Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

In 2007, Great Backyard Bird Count participants broke records for the number of birds reported (11,082,387 birds of 613 species) and the number of checklists. (81,203).

Already, the count results show how the numbers of some birds species have changed in recent years, such as a decline in Northern Pintails and an increase in Hooded Mergansers, consistent with trends from the Christmas Bird Count and Breeding Bird Survey.
For more information on how to participate, including identification tips, photos, bird sounds, maps, and information on over 500 bird species, visit http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/.