The Great Backyard Bird Count
Winter birdwatching and bird feeding is fun and important!
The Great Backyard Bird Count is an important, as well as fun winter event for the whole family.
Bird feeding and birdwatching are fun winter activities, as well as an important ones. It’s important because you are feeding the birds, and while you’re feeding the birds, you can help researchers by watching and reporting what you see. It is so important that scientists at the Cornell Ornithology Department have organized an annual event, called the Annual Great Backyard Bird Count where they need home birdwatchers to participate. The Annual Bird Count is also sponsored by the Audubon Society.
The Backyard Bird Count relies on reporting from people around the country to help count and monitor bird flocks. The number and species of birds in any one area helps in answering questions as to how the snow and temperatures affect the flock and its location. A change in the number of birds from year to year could determine if a disease is present, or if migration patterns have changed.
The Backyard Bird Count for 2008 is from February 15-18. You can observe your feeders one day, or every day, any time birds may be present. Anyone, anywhere can count. The only requirement is that you spend at least 15 minutes observing on each day you participate. The count location does not have to be your home, especially if you do not have feeders hung up, but the organizers prefer it be within one mile of your home.
To start, make sure there is ample bird food in your feeders to attract the feathered diners. A water source wouldn’t hurt, either. If you happen to have snow or ice on the count days, uncover the food so the birds can find it easily.
Next, have some paper, a pen and bird book ready. If you don’t have a bird book, visit their site here: Birdsource.org, where you can enter in your zip code, and a sheet with the bird species native to your area is created. You can print and keep it for later or save it to your computer.
On your paper, keep a tally section for each species of bird on your paper. To count, write down the highest number of same species birds you see at one time. If there are four cardinals at one time below your feeder, write four. If one comes back in a minute, do not add it, as it may be the same bird. If there are 10 morning doves at one time, write ten. Don’t write ten, watch them fly away, have 6 come back in a minute and then say 16. It will skew the results.
When you are finished with your birdwatching and have a count, report your results to the website at: Birdsource.org. The form is in PDF format, so you will need to have Adobe or similar software to open and read the file. You will also need to provide the location, local habitat and count duration time of your participation.
At the website, year’s past tallies are archived, as well as locations of other counters and what they saw. If you love birdwatching, and are a bird enthusiast, there are many more links to poke around and enjoy.
Take advantage of a great nature project for the whole family, and help birds and scientists in the process. Happy counting!
For more details, go to Birdsource.org.
