Great Backyard Bird Count February 13-16 Herb Lord

From February 13-16, 2004, bird enthusiasts are invited to take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), a project developed and managed by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, with sponsorship from Wild Birds Unlimited store owners and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a division of the USDA.

Last winter, as part of the Great Backyard Bird Count, bird enthusiasts across North America submitted almost 50,000 checklists totaling more than four million birds of 512 species.

The data collected this year will be combined with Christmas Bird Count and Project FeederWatch data to give an immense picture of our winter birds. Anyone with an interest in birds, from novice to expert, can be part of GBBC by tallying numbers and kinds of birds they see in their backyards, schoolyards, local parks or any favorite birding location for as little as 15 minutes a day on any or all of the four count days.

This year's count marks the 7th anniversary of this immensely popular event. Over the years, more than 100,000 citizen scientists throughout the United States and Canada have submitted reports which have helped researchers track a regional decline of the American Crow (perhaps due to West Nile disease), winter finch invasions, investigate the correlation between snow cover and northerly distributions of American robins, and document the "arrival of spring" by following movements of blackbirds as they begin their migrations back to their breeding grounds.

Visit the GBBC website, www.birdsource.org for instructions and results from previous counts. At the site, you can also listen to bird songs, see bird images, and learn about species of conservation concern. Material for classrooms, tips for bird feeding, and a how-to for creating bird-friendly yards are also at the site.