Get ready to count some birds, because Audubon’s Great Backyard Bird Count starts today, February 12, and runs through Monday the 15th. This is a beginner-friendly event, even easier to join than the Christmas bird count.
You don’t even need a backyard. Just find a place where you’re likely to see some birds. This is a great time to visit a local park or wildlife refuge. To participate, count birds for at least 15 minutes “in as many places and on as many days as you like.” You’ll keep a separate checklist for each outing. In addition to noting the types of birds you see, make sure to count (or estimate) how many individuals you saw. Two cardinals at your feeder. 20 geese on the lake.
This February bird count has always been a bright spot in the middle of winter, but the pandemic makes it even more so. Your birdfeeder becomes a citizen science project, connecting you to other birders around the world. And you have a new excuse to bundle up and go outside, if you’ve been seeing too much of your interior walls lately. It’s even relatively safe to meet up with others outdoors, although Audubon notes:
...we strongly urge participants to comply with all current country, province, state, First People’s lands, or municipal Covid-19 regulations and guidelines. This includes, but is not limited to, social distancing while birdwatching and wearing a mask when birding with others. Thank you for protecting yourself and your community while celebrating the wonders of birds.
Whether you go out or not, you can also sit back and watch the counts roll in on this map, or browse birds by species and view photos here.
For your counts to contribute to the worldwide citizen science project, you’ll need an account at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, and log your checklists either there or in the eBird app.
The purpose of the project is to gather data on bird populations and how they change over time. (The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual project.) You can also browse the data yourself, to see what birds your neighbors have noticed near you. Maybe you’ll see them next time you go out!
This post was first published in February 2020, and was updated on February 12, 2021 for this year’s event.