Help Scientists by Collecting Data with the Great Backyard Bird Count
For four days each February, birdwatchers of every skill level can participate in a global event for the love and wellbeing of birds.
The Great Backyard Bird Count ‘24
For four days each February, birdwatchers of every skill level can participate in a global event for the love and wellbeing of birds. On at least one of the four days, participants will spend 15 minutes or more identifying birds in a location of their choice. The birds identified will be submitted to an online database, alongside data from hundreds of thousands of other birders all around the world.
This is a way for anyone with an interest in birds and wildlife to engage with the world around them and learn new things while contributing to a larger collective with the ability to make a positive global impact.
How to Participate
If being a part of this project sounds like a fun way to get outside this February–great! It’s easy:
1. Where/Who/When
This year's bird count runs from Friday, February 16, through Monday, February 19. Pick what spot you’d like to bird, and who you’d like to go with. Local parks, trails, forests, around the neighborhood, and yes, even your own backyard, are all lovely options. You can bird anywhere, as long as you can legally and safely access the property, of course.
2. Watch/Listen/Identify
For at least 15 minutes, at least one time over the course of that Friday-Monday, get out there and observe! Sight and sound are the most helpful cues for bird identification. Helpful tools for bird ID include binoculars, field guides, Merlin Bird ID, and a more experienced birder friend. Be sure to keep careful track of each bird species you see, so that data can be collected!
3. Enter Data
The most crucial step - adding to the international database - can be done in any of three ways:
Enter data through the Merlin Bird ID App
Enter data through a checklist on the eBird App
Enter data on eBird through a compute
If you’re already familiar with eBird and/or Merlin, that’s good news, birder! Any lists added to either over the days of the Great Backyard Bird Count will automatically be a part of the count. So, keep up the good work, and make a point to get outside and do some birding the weekend of the count.
Project Goals
With everyone’s help, we can better understand bird populations. Data on species diversity, population numbers, and location can help ornithologists and land managers to make informed decisions on how to best protect birds and the environment as a whole.
Project History
The Great Backyard Bird Count is a partnership between CornellLab, Audubon, and Birds Canada. Originally founded in 1998 by CornellLab and Audubon, the Great Backyard Bird Count is the first ever community science project launched online, with the purpose of collecting data on wild birds and publicly displaying results. Birds Canada became a part of the collaboration in 2009 to expand the scope of the project in Canada (it was limited to the US when created). In 2013, the Great Backyard Bird Count joined with eBird, the world’s largest ongoing biodiversity related community science project, and became global.
Resources
Visit the Great Backyard Bird Count website to learn more about the project, see photos and data from past years, and for anything else Great Backyard Bird Count related!
Visit eBird to expand your bird knowledge and download a list of target potential species for your area, that you can familiarize yourself with ahead of time.
Data from past counts
We are all in this together.
Migratory birds are a lovely reminder that, across oceans and borders, our planet is one whole. The Great Backyard Bird Count is a testament to our force as a collective. It reassures us with proof that individuals who care to engage and participate in the world around them can come together to make a positive global difference. It reminds us to go outside and be in our world. It encourages us to notice and care for the others we share our planet with. And last but not at all least, it gives us that little extra push to go delight in watching a fluffy little bird hopping around. So get out there and look at some birds!
Upcoming Christmas Bird Counts!
Christmas Bird Counts are vastly approaching!
Pictured: Red-breasted Nuthatch
Christmas bird counts have been a tradition since the early 1900s when an ornithologist suggested that bird hunters count birds rather than hunt them. This bird count has now happened every year since in a multitude of different locations. The Christmas Bird Count, organized by the Audubon Society, is a North American citizen science survey that runs from December 14th through January 5th each year. Information gathered during these counts helps us to better understand the health and status of bird populations. This type of stewardship is something that represents one of our pillars at BRDC and we are so excited to be able to participate in two Christmas Bird Counts this year.
The New River Christmas Bird Count will be the first bird count that BRDC participates in this year. Each year, Blue Ridge Discovery Center heads up to the New River CBC, centered around Sparta, NC. All ages and skill levels are welcome to participate! This event is free to all and we’ll make a full day of it. This will take place on Saturday, December 17th from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
Pictured: Song Sparrow
The Mount Rogers Christmas Bird Count will be the second bird count that BRDC participates in this year. This bird count will be led by local bird expert Allen Boynton. His knowledge of birds is truly remarkable and we are so glad that he will be guiding the Mount Rogers CBC. This will take place on Sunday, December 18th from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
Interested in joining us for a Christmas Bird Count? Please contact Keely Doyle at kdoyle@blueridgediscoverycenter.org or (276) 388-3155.
Pictured: Northern Cardinal
2016 Christmas Bird Count
Prior to the turn of the 20th century, hunters engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas "Side Hunt". They would choose sides and go afield with their guns—whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won. Conservation was in its beginning stages in that era, and many observers and scientists were becoming concerned about declining bird populations.
Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, an early officer in the then-nascent Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition—a "Christmas Bird Census" that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them.
Prior to the turn of the 20th century, hunters engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas "Side Hunt". They would choose sides and go afield with their guns—whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won. Conservation was in its beginning stages in that era, and many observers and scientists were becoming concerned about declining bird populations.
Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, an early officer in the then-nascent Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition—a "Christmas Bird Census" that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them.
(From http://www.audubon.org/history-christmas-bird-count).
Many of us have participated in the Christmas Bird Count through the years. In our area there are four: The New River, the Stone Mountain, the Mount Rogers, and the Mount Jefferson counts. We launched this 117th CBC season on Saturday December 17th with the New River circle. Each circle is 15 miles in diameter, within which the counting must take place. The circles cannot be moved or overlap other circles. Typically a circle is broken up into segments, each of which is managed by a team of observers. The NRCBC has five teams working in one of five designated segments. The count period is from December 14th through January 5th. Any day between those dates is open, but the counting only takes place on one specific day for one specific circle. The data we collect go into a central data base from where population and species location trends are mapped. Given the long term effort of this tradition, much data have been collected over the years, giving scientists lots of information to study and compare.
On the 17th, 8AM, a small group met at Cox’s Chapel Low Water Bridge to begin our day’s counting. The weather was warm and calm, so we spent the majority of the day walking while listening, watching, and keeping notes. We explored several places along the New River as well as taking jaunts into woodlands, fields, and checking out small ponds. Two other counters worked another part of our section, so we had a good team well spread out.
Our highlights for that day were: winter wren, brown creeper, bald eagle, Cooper’s hawk, fox sparrow and ruby-crowned kinglet. In abundance were Canada goose (103) and American crow (51). Our full circle tallies were much higher (with one team’s data yet to come in)… for instance Canada goose (423) and crow (246).
The event is great fun, a good excuse to spend a day outdoors with friends both human and feathered.
