Great-grandson Avery doing his part for the Great Backyard Bird Count!

The results of the 2022 GBBC are now out. The summary provided by eBird (based at Cornell University’s Ornithological Laboratory) provides some impressive results.

One hundred ninety-two countries participated in the count and over 384,000 individuals from across the globe counted birds. Seven thousand and ninety-nine species were identified by the participants, which is about three quarters of the world’s species. The United States had the highest number of checklists with just over 234,000 submitted, followed by India with 42,830 checklists and Canada with 33,797 checklists. Interestingly, while the number of eBird checklists were down from 2021, participation increased. The guess is that this is likely covid related, in that as restrictions were lifted in some areas larger groups of people counted birds together resulting in fewer checklists, but higher participation. Each checklist submitted during the GBBC helps researchers at the Cornell Ornithological Lab and the National Audubon Society learn more about how birds are doing, and how to protect them and the environment we share.

Among the states, California had the highest count with 380 species. Texas was next with 371 species. In general, the warmer a state’s climate the higher the number of bird species reported on the Great Backyard Bird Count. Washington reported 221 species. Pacific County reported 71 species and altogether our county birders submitted 39 checklists.

The hottest spots on the Long Beach Peninsula during the count were Cape Disappointment with 16 species and Leadbetter Point with 14 species. Other local hot birding spots during the count included Black Lake (5 species), the Seaview approach (5 species), Surfside beach (4 species), and Willapa National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters (4 species). Those of us who birded our backyards often tallied high numbers of species. Many of our counts equaled or exceeded the number of species observed in many of the public hot spot areas. There is no doubt that backyard birding makes an important contribution to our knowledge of our avian friends.

My analysis of the data as provided by birdcount.org revealed what I expected, and I think the total number for each species is accurate, at least they are to the best of my knowledge. It is not surprising that six of the top 10 species observed in Pacific County were either shorebirds, gulls, ducks or geese. Dunlin topped the list with 1,000 birds, followed by Sanderling with 100. Canada geese came next with 70, followed by the glaucous-winged gull (65 birds) and the marbled godwit with a count of 60. Twenty-three mallards were also reported. The rest of the top-10 species seen included the European starling, American robin, American crow, and the dark-eyed junco. A variety of other species of ducks, shorebirds and gulls were reported but not in numbers as large as those I specifically mentioned above.

The purpose of the count is to help scientists better understand global bird populations before one of their annual migrations. “Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) was the first online citizen science project to collect data on wild birds and to display results in near real time” (birdcount.org). Counting the birds in our own backyards helped expand our knowledge and understanding of birds on the Peninsula and in the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge as well as at the global level. A worthwhile project indeed! Happy birding!