Great Backyard Bird Count lets public do citizen science in as little as 15 minutes
The annual Great Backyard Bird Count is slated for February 14-17. Anyone is welcome to participate; all it takes is a commitment to identify and count the birds seen or heard in a particular location on at least one of the days of the count, for at least 15 minutes.
"You don't have to have a backyard to participate — you can do it anywhere you are," said Benjamin Haywood, director of community science for the National Audubon Society.
"You can be in a city; you could be in a public park; you could be on a balcony in your apartment building. Anywhere you see birds you can participate."
The Great Backyard Bird Count started in 1998 as a joint project of the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The idea for the February count was to get a snapshot of bird information just before they embarked on their spring migrations in North America, where they return to places like Michigan to breed.
"Because it's now a global event, we now also get really good information about resident birds, birds that don't migrate and stay in the same area," Haygood said.
The citizen bird identifications and counts are uploaded to Cornell Lab's eBird database, to which more than 100 million bird sightings are contributed annually by eBirders around the world. The data has proven valuable to scientists, and has helped inform hundreds of research papers and articles, Haygood said.
The Great Backyard Bird Count adds the unique perspective of nearly simultaneous, mass, global observation in a short, particular timeframe. More than 642,000 people participated in the count last year in 210 countries or subregions, he said.
"It's a great opportunity to paint the picture of how the bird populations are doing," Haygood said. "Are they declining? Do we see them in certain areas now more than we saw them in the past? Are they changing their ranges and habitat needs?"
Among the trends the citizen science has made clear: many bird species in the Northern Hemisphere are shifting their winter ranges farther north over time, likely a result of the trend of milder winters driven by climate change, he said.
More: Most birds adapted to spending winter in Michigan can handle below-zero cold
More: Fish-eating shoreline birds harmed by polluted Michigan waters, yearslong study finds
Laura Valence, marketing manager at Wenke Greenhouses in Kalamazoo, highlights the Great Backyard Bird Count and how to participate on the business' website annually.
"I am very passionate about feeling the birds, and I love watching them — I have six bird feeders at my house," she said. "It's a great thing to do as a family. It's really easy to do. You can do it for an hour; you can do it for the whole weekend. It's a great family event in the middle of winter."
Don't know a tufted titmouse from a white-breasted nuthatch? Cornell Lab's Merlin Bird ID app, available free for Apple or Android phones, can walk a user through identifying the bird they see through a series of questions. The app also allows for recording bird calls, with the birds identified through the lab's vast database of vocalizations. The Merlin app automatically feeds the Great Backyard Bird Count data collection.
Count participants can do their work solo, as a family or small group, or as part of community events scheduled all around the world for this weekend.
"If you are new to birding, and you want to connect with people who have been doing this for a while, that's a nice way to get started, getting with a group of people," Haywood said.
Great Backyard Bird Count Events slated in Michigan this weekend include:
Friday, Feb. 14 at DeVries Nature Conservancy, 2635 N. Michigan 52, Owosso. Guided hike from 4 to 5 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 15, from 8:30 to 11 a.m., Oakland Bird Alliance's Young Birders Club will participate in the count at Johnson Nature Center, 3325 Franklin Road, Bloomfield Township. The club is for children ages 8 to 18, and children under 16 must be accompanied by a parent. Pre-registration is required. For more information, email Kathleen Dougherty at kad8186@msn.com.
Saturday, Feb. 15, from 8 to 11 a.m. at Fernwood Botanical Garden 13988 Range Line Road, Niles. The event is free, but registration for particular time slots is requested at https://www.fernwoodbotanical.org/list-of-events-programs/great-backyard-bird-count-1.
Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend enlists citizen scientists
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