How do scientists learn about birds? How do they know where they are at any given time, given that fact that some bird species migrate?
You Can Help
A photo taken from the 2014 Great Backyard Bird Count.
One way is with the help of ordinary people like you and me in the annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), one of several citizen-science projects sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, along with Bird Studies Canada and many international partners.
This year’s count happens February 14-17. All you have to do to participate is visit the GBBC website, register, spend at least 15 minutes observing and counting the birds in the area you designate, and then submit your data. The Bird Count folks amalgamate all the data from people across the United States and since last year, from several other countries as well.
According to the GBBC website, the scientists use the data the count generates to help answer questions such as these:
- How will the weather and climate change influence bird populations?
- Some birds, such as winter finches, appear in large numbers during some years but not others. Where are these species from year to year, and what can we learn from these patterns?
- 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?
The value of the data increases every year. The Bird Count began in 1998, which makes 2014 its 17th year. In the 2013 count, over 100,000 people in 111 countries identified 33, 464, 616 birds of over 4.258 species.
Plus, It’s Fun!
As important as its value in numbers, perhaps, is the fact that participating in the bird count is fun. It is also a great thing to do with kids … to help them learn more about the natural world around them.
You don’t have to know a lot about birds. You will have several tools to help you ID any bird you don’t recognize.
You don’t have to spend tons of time. The minimum is 15 minutes. You can spend more of course, up to several hours on each of the Count’s four days, but 15 minutes is all that is required.
You don’t have to spend any money at all.
Meet the Nuthatch
I have only done the bird count once, but I am signing up to repeat the experience this 
year. The year I participated, I saw a bird I had never noticed before. It was bluish-gray on top with white feathers on its breast. The funny thing was that it walked down a tree outside my window. Never up, just down. I read later that the nuthatch family of birds light at the top of a tree and then spiral downwards about the trunk and the bottoms of limbs to ferret out those insects that other insect-eaters may have left behind. If you see a bird crawling up, it’s not a nuthatch! The up-crawlers are creepers
For step by step directions on how to participate in the 2014 Great Backyard Bird Count, download this list.
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