Birders will have a chance this weekend to participate in an annual study that’s going global this year.
The 16th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) takes place Friday through Monday, and scientists are asking for help to count birds on their migratory routes.
Anyone can watch birds at any location for at least 15 minutes, tally the numbers of each species they see and report their findings online at Birdcount.org.
Last year, participants of the GBBC submitted 104,151 checklists (a record) with 17.4 million individual bird observations, according to the GBBC website.
This year could be even bigger with the introduction of new technology. New features include interactive maps and using smartphones to upload bird counts through an eBird BirdLog app.
Bob Gould, president of the Lower Neuse Bird Club, said flocks of birds already are making their way to New Bern to fuel up for the migration north. Red-winged blackbirds, common grackles and some brown cowbirds are now very active, he said.
“They have decimated feeders,” he said. “They are coming in the hundreds every day. They tend to congregate here. It’s pre-migration time for them.”
More red-breasted nuthatches seem to have shown up this winter than usual, Gould said. They usually stay farther north, he said.
Gould said he enjoys the GBBC each year and thought it would be a fun activity for kids and a way for parents to get their children involved in birding.
“The idea is to try not to count the same bird more than once,” he said. “That is sometimes difficult.”
All of the data collected during the GBBC will be used as a base to evaluate migration trends, Gould said.
“It is a way to get an idea of how certain species of birds are doing,” he said. “It’s not an exact science, but I find it enjoyable.”
Jim Oldham, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited, and his wife, Carol, participate in the GBBC each year.
“It’s entertaining to watch birds,” Oldham said, “and it is a citizen science project, collecting data and putting it online; and it can be a family-oriented activity.”
People can visit the GBBC website Friday to see bird observations taking place around the world and contribute their own tallies. Global participation will be made possible through eBird, a real-time online checklist program that the Cornell Lab and Audubon are integrating into the GBBC for the first time this year.
John Fitzpatrick, Cornell Lab director, said he was eager to see how many of the world’s 10,240 bird species will be reported this year.
“We're looking forward to this historic snapshot of birds that that will be reported from around the world,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement. “We need as many people as possible to help build the wealth of data that scientists need to track the health of bird populations through time.”
To learn more, visit Birdcount.org. The count also includes a photo contest and a prize drawing for participants who enter at least one bird checklist online.
The Great Backyard Bird Count is a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon, with Canadian partner Bird Studies Canada and sponsored in part by Wild Birds Unlimited.
Eddie Fitzgerald can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at firstname.lastname@example.org. Follow him on Twitter @staffwriter3.