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The Great Backyard Bird Count

© Brenda Muncrief

Once again, it's time for The Great Backyard Bird Count, a joint project of Audubon and Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This count is held every year in the United States and Canada as a means to determine the status of winter bird populations. Why is this important? I'll let the experts tell you. The following is taken from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.

Why count backyard birds? Scientists and bird enthusiasts can learn a lot by knowing where the birds are. Now that winter has gripped much of the continent, what are our birds doing? Bird populations are dynamic, they are constantly in flux. We want to take a snapshot of North American bird populations and YOU can help us. Everyone's contribution is important. It doesn't matter whether you identify, count, and report the 5 species coming to your backyard feeder or the 75 species you see during a day's outing to a wildlife refuge. Your data can help us answer many questions:

1. How will this winter's snow and cold temperatures influence bird populations?
2. Where are the WINTER finches and other irruptive species?
3. Will late winter movements of many SONGBIRD and waterfowl species be as far north as they were last year?

The data that you collect will be combined with Christmas Bird Count and Project FeederWatch data to give us an immense picture of our winter birds. Each year that these data are collected makes them more important and meaningful. So as we see patterns, discover new questions and insights, we'll update you. And we'll ask for your help again.

The dates for this year's count are February 13-16. You can download a printable tally sheet for your area from the website. You may count every day of the count period, for anywhere from 15 minutes to all day! You will enter the largest number of each species you see at any one time. Complete instructions for taking the count and entering your data can be found on the Show Me How page on the CLO website.

Many local Audubon groups have activities to promote the Great Backyard Bird Count. My local chapter is having a Saturday morning breakfast at my house to emphasize the event and encourage participation. That Saturday will be Valentine's Day, so I'm hoping all the bright-red male cardinals that have been visiting my feeders will be in fine form that morning. This is also a great event for other groups, such as Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, to participate in. The counts can be taken in local parks as well as backyards. In fact, you can count as many locations as you wish, but just be sure to keep separate checklists for each site and enter them separately.

The copyright of the article The Great Backyard Bird Count in Birdwatching is owned by Brenda Muncrief. Permission to republish The Great Backyard Bird Count in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.