By Deanna Conner for earthsky.org
The annual Great Backyard Bird Count, now in its 22nd year, is set to take place February 15-18, 2019. During this popular citizen science event, people from all over the world head outdoors to count birds and the data are used by scientists to track the health of bird populations. Register here.
Participants are asked to count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the four-day event and report their sightings online at birdcount.org. Anyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from beginning bird watchers to experts, and you can participate from your backyard, or anywhere in the world.
According to a Great Backyard Bird Count statement: During the 2018 count, bird watchers from more than 100 countries submitted more than 180,000 bird checklists reporting a record 6,456 species – more than half the known bird species in the world.
Participating in the 2019 Great Backyard Bird Count involves three easy steps.
- First, register with your name on the event’s website at thelink here. Registration is free. This website has a ton of useful information about birds and the upcoming bird count.
- Spend some time counting birds on the weekend of the event at the location of your choice, such as your backyard or a local park. The minimum amount of time required is 15 minutes, but you can count for longer if you wish. During your count, simply record the start and end time, location, and number and types of birds that you see. You can perform counts in multiple locations too. Just be sure to submit separate checklists for each location.
Not to worry if you can’t identify the birds you see at first. Just take good notes about their prominent features: for example, size, shape, color, and unusual markings. Or you can try to snap a close-up picture. Then, you can use a bird guide to look them up later. All About Birds and What Bird are two good online bird identification guides that are free and easy to use. Additionally, the free Merlin Bird ID App can be downloaded to your smartphone and used offline. Merlin will ask you five simple questions about the bird you are trying to identify and suggest matches for you – you can even upload a picture to Merlin and let the app try to identify it.
- The last step involves uploading your data to the event’s website. This step usually only takes a few minutes to complete. While you’re visiting the website, check out the live map that displays dots in the various locations where people have uploaded a checklist. It’s fun to watch the data pour in from all over the world.
Photos of Join the 2019 Great Backyard Bird Count
