Join the world for the Great Backyard Bird Count as the GBBC along with eBird continues to monitor global bird populations.
Some people think a participant must be able to identify all the birds they see, which is not the case. If you see five species but only know three of them, you enter the three species as all you identified.
It only takes a minimum of 15 minutes (not necessarily all at one time) in a day to count the birds in your yard, or elsewhere, to get one checklist. Count all four days to have four checklists. More than one 15-minute checklist per location is allowed, so you could do a.m. and p.m. lists.
An abbreviated checklist for the area is available at Clearwater 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 years of data to peruse.
No Internet access? Phone 250-674-2518 for further details on how to count and later to submit your checklist(s).
Your participation as a Citizen Scientist in the GBBC is one piece of the puzzle that helps scientists get the big picture about changes in bird populations.
Perhaps this year’s count will show the northward progression of magpies in the region.
So how about getting out, or relaxing inside, and counting some birds?