Friday, February 18, 2011

Count some birds~it helps~its easy~win Prizes!

Howdee all,

The Great Backyard Bird Count

Friday, February 18, through Monday, February 21

Lets all do this..at least one day for 15 minutes……

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1. Plan to count birds for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count. You can count for longer than that if you wish! Count birds in as many places and on as many days as you like—one day, two days, or all four days. Submit a separate checklist for each new day. You can also submit more than one checklist per day if you count in other locations on that day.


2. Count the greatest number of individuals of each species that you see together at any one time. You may find it helpful to print out your regional bird checklist to get an idea of the kinds of birds you're likely to see in your area in February. You could take note of the highest number of each species you see on this checklist.


3. When you're finished, enter your results through our web page. You'll see a button marked "Enter Your Checklists!" on the website home page beginning on the first day of the count. It will remain active until the deadline for data submission on March 1st.

You can count the birds in your own back yard, or wherever you are.

Watch the video below for the easy instructions.

Download this PDF file with instructions

 Info below taken from the GBBC site..click on this link to go there

Your counts can help us answer many questions:

  • How will this winter's snow and cold temperatures influence bird populations?

  • Where are winter finches and other “irruptive” species that appear in large numbers during some years but not others?

  • How will the timing of birds’ migrations compare with past years?

  • How are bird diseases, such as West Nile virus, affecting birds in different regions?

  • What kinds of differences in bird diversity are apparent in cities versus suburban, rural, and natural areas?

  • Are any birds undergoing worrisome declines that point to the need for conservation attention?

  • Scientists use the counts, along with observations from other citizen-science projects, such as the Christmas Bird Count, Project FeederWatch, and eBird, to give us an immense picture of our winter birds. Each year that these data are collected makes them more meaningful and allows scientists to investigate far-reaching questions.

And did you know that you can win prizes for helping?

check out the prizes..one of them is an Ipod touch with the Audubon bird app!

3 comments:

  1. I am planning to participate and this was very helpful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Dawn, I am counting today. But it is a bad day for my count due to the high winds out there.

    ReplyDelete

ok what do you really think?????