The Great Backyard Bird Count

The Great Backyard Bird Count is coming soon to a feeder, lake or field near you!

 Cooper's Hawk - photographed along Illinois Route 3

Scheduled for February 12-15, 2010, The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages birdwatchers of all ages throughout North America to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent.  Anyone can participate.  All it takes is a minimum of 15 minutes on one day or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event.  Its’ free, fun and easy and it helps the birds.

 Harlan's Red Tailed Hawk - Northern Illinois

Participants count birds anywhere for as little or as long as they like over the four day period.  They then use the highest number of birds for each species seen at one time.  Then report your findings to www.birdsource.org/gbbc/ .

White Pelicans - photographed in Illinois at Two Rivers

In 2009, Missouri reported 129 species.  In St. Louis 67 species were reported on 205 lists entered.  The top ten birds spotted on checklists were Northern Cardinal, Mourning Dove, American Robin, European Starling, Dark-eyed Junco, House Finch, House Sparrow, American Goldfinch, Downy Woodpecker, and White-throated Sparrow.  All of this information helps with showing bird populations information, timing of migrations, how diseases are affecting populations and whether certain species are in need of conservation attention.  This data, combined with other citizen science projects like Christmas Bird Counts, Project Feeder Watch, and ebird, help scientists gather important data about winter bird populations.

To learn more about this fun beneficial project please visit www.birdsource.org/gbbc/

Submitted by Cathy Spahn, World Bird Sanctuary Field Studies Coordinator