This weekend you can participate in an international event from your own window. The Great Backyard Bird Count is hosted by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon and is an online citizen-science project where participants record their observations. Birds visiting gardens throughout the world are observed and appreciated for their beauty.
From February 13th through February 16th, 2015, bird watchers of all ages can participate in the GBBC. It’s a free and fun event that can be shared with family and friends. Whether you’re a beginning or an expert birder, you can spend either a few minutes, or a marathon session and enjoy your feathered friend visitors. You can even stay in your pajamas!
If you are unfamiliar with the birds in your area, see if you can borrow a book from the local library. Even better, buy a bird identification book. Get the children to join in and throw some bird seed out in the garden. Wait and see what may show up!
In 2014, a total of 135 countries entered in 144,000 checklists and tallied nearly 4,300 different bird species. Who knows what rare bird may show up in your yard.
If you’re new to the count: Click here to register for the GBBC and join in the fun!
“So What are you Waiting For?” Signup already!
Eastern Towhee
Emily Carter ~ Nature as Art 
Well now, You got a bird with brown and white feathers, Kind of like a little masked bandit heh š
He really is, and full of attitude!
The smaller nature’s beautiful creations are the more they seem to eh! š
He’s is such a cute little fella. š I’ll have a look at the GBBC. As you know, I get beautiful birds in my backyard. š
I know you do ! You should do a photographic GBBC ! I think I’m going to carve out some time too to participate in this.
I signed up! Thanks!
Yeah Nicci ! I’m so excited for you. I can’t wait to hear the birds that you find in your garden.
Thank you, Bella. I have to say I became instantly discouraged when I couldn’t identify them. I tried going through the tutorial for beginners, which was helpful because it said to start with shape and size instead of color, and that people get confused when they try to start with color. Maybe I’ll try getting a book specifically for this area. There’s a wild bird store a block or two from my house. Maybe they’ll be able to help.
Hmmm, we have a similar survey here in the U.K.
Seasonal count at the same time every year to collect data for comparison/population research.
Good luck to all the “people scientists” adding to the information.
Aww..come on, you’re not going to join us? š just kidding. I bet you have some birds that I would love to see in your garden.
Very happy to see you’re doing this over there too! Enjoy!
See..you mentioned it, and here it is. You’re amazing Fatima.
Glad I could be of help!
Reblogged this on Effervescent Francois! and commented:
Love it!
Thank you so much for sharing this with your readers.
Oh goodness! I’m so late for this post but I’m happy to see you sharing it with everyone, myself included as I was not already aware of this. My feeders have – guilty face – been empty for some time but at the least this post will inspire me to get out there and fill them. š Lovely shot of the Towhee, a bird I’ve yet to see, I do love bird mugs.
I believe there is yet another day of the GBBC, you should take some time and see what visitors you have. Indeed..empty bird feeders? shame on you! Bet your birds give you dirty looks and visit the neighbors instead.
The towhee has moved in, along with the fox sparrow. It’s so awesome!
How exciting that you have new visitors, that’s inspiration to keep on the feeders! Well I will say one thing about my empty feeders, I had a bag of bird seed I forgot outside (it was some really cheap stuff, I know why the bag isn’t clear, so you can’t see it’s the super cheap stuff!) the squirrels tore a hole in the bottom and I said hey let em have it. So the house sparrows and cardinals, and squirrels, got a buffet of sorts. I enjoyed seeing all the little footprints outside my door. They weren’t entirely without food. š But you’re right, I’m going to lose my visitors and get a bad bird reputation.