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Perhaps you already help the birds by feeding them. How about helping them a little more by participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count. It will be held this year from Friday, Feb. 13 to Monday, Feb. 16.
As a Citizen Scientist participating in the GBBC, you can add another piece to the puzzle that helps scientists get the big picture about bird population changes.
Which has more value, a checklist with few birds or one with many? They should be considered fairly equal, because both give an indication of the bird population.
Though it may be disappointing to see only a few birds, analysts can also infer all the species you didn’t see and this “negative data” is extremely helpful for digital range maps.
It only takes 15 minutes (not necessarily all at one time) to count the birds in your yard, or elsewhere, to get one checklist. More than one checklist is allowed per location per day.
An abbreviated checklist for the Clearwater area is available at the library.
It’s fairly easy to submit your checklist(s) at www.birdcount.org Cornell University’s website, which has information on how to count and several years of data to peruse.
No Internet access? Phone Hoo Ping Crane at 250-674-2518 for details on how to count and later to submit your checklist(s).
So how about getting out, or relaxing inside, and counting some birds.