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GeeMack
SFN Regular
USA
1093 Posts |
 Posted - 01/22/2006 : 09:42:48
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In just a few weeks, over the four day period from February 17 through February 20, 2006, amateur and professional bird watchers throughtout North America will be participating in the annual Great Backyard Bird Count. This is a research project operated jointly by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The project is a huge cooperative effort between those organizations and interested individuals, the objective of which is to create a sort of wild bird census.
If you have a bird feeder in your yard, or take walks at parks or nature preserves, and know the names of even a few of the birds you normally see, you're invited to participate. And it's easy. You simply take some time to observe various wild bird species in a given area, count approximately how many of which species you observe, then fill out a short report form on-line to submit your data. You may count the birds anywhere, your own backyard, nature preserves, even rooftops of buildings downtown, anywhere. You don't have to spend any more than a half hour, but you may spend all weekend if you like. And you don't need to be any kind of wild bird expert in order to help.
Last year during the 2005 Great Backyard Bird Count, almost 52,000 reports were submitted. A total of 6.5 million individual birds were counted representing over 600 species. The data is used to track fluctuations in bird populations, quantities, regional distributions, and to determine which species are doing well and which might be threatened. As with all research projects of this scope, the more data that gets in the mix, the better overall picture will result. So everyone is encouraged to participate.
Learn more about the The Great Backyard Bird Count HERE. Put it on your calendar, then after the event, let us know how well you did.
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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GeeMack
SFN Regular
USA
1093 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2006 : 11:13:58 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Ricky...
Location: Sesame Street
Number of birds: 1
Types: Big
That should rank right in there with the Ivory Billed Woodpecker as one of the least common North American birds. Interesting how the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, if indeed there is a breeding population, must amount to at least two individuals, and has been seen by only a handful of people in the last fifty years. As opposed to Big Bird, with only a single specimen representing the species, yet has been seen by hundreds of millions of people!
You'll be pleased to know there is a space on the report form for "other". And although we do admire your enthusiasm, Ricky, the official counting doesn't begin until February 17. 
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Topic Locked
