The Great Backyard Bird Count is a 4-day event that takes place annually in February. This year the Count will take place from Feb. 16-19, 2024. This is the 27th anniversary of the Great Backyard Bird count. For 27 years citizen scientists have been watching, learning about, counting, and celebrating birds. As we know birds are everywhere, all the time doing fascinating things. Their behavior is interesting and amazing.

Given that there are still some covid-19 issues and this year, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), counting and watching birds is still one of the safest and most rewarding activities we can do because we can bird from home, or we can go to our favorite birding spot on our own. Participation is free. We are just asked to commit to counting birds for as little as 15 minutes, or longer on at least one of the four days of the count. However, you can also do more. All four days will provide a great experience. You may even notice more birds in your backyard than ever before. Participating is easy, fun to do alone or with others, and can be done anywhere you find birds.

Easy steps

www.birdcount.org outlines three easy steps to participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count.

Step 1: Decide where you will watch birds.

Step 2: Watch birds for 15 minutes or more, at least once over the four days, Feb. 16-19, 2024.

Step 3: Identify all the birds you see or hear within your planned time/location and use the best tool for sharing your bird sightings:

• If you are a beginning bird admirer and new to bird identification, try using the Merlin Bird ID app to tell us what birds you are seeing or hearing.

• If you have participated in the count before and want to record numbers of birds, try the eBird Mobile app (merlin.allaboutbirds.org) or enter your bird list on the eBird.org website (desktop/laptop).

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).

The summary from the four-day event in 2023 is as follows:

In a snapshot:

• 7,538 species of birds identified

• 202 participating countries

• 390,652 eBird checklists

• 372,905 Merlin Bird IDs

• 151,479 photos added to Macaulay Library

• 555,291 estimated global participants

Source: birdcount.org

You can learn more about the count in your backyard or neighborhood by going to the website www.birdcount.org The Great Backyard Bird Count is an international partnership between the Cornell Lab, Audubon, and Birds Canada. So, dust off your binoculars and/or fill up your bird feeders! Get ready for this exciting bird count event. Happy birding!