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11th Great Backyard Bird Count: Count and Be Counted This Weekend Putnam Highlands
Audubon invites volunteers to count local birds
Putnam Highlands Audubon Society (PHAS) cordially invites you to join the tens of thousands of North American birdwatchers in this important citizen-science event, the GBBC, hosted by National Audubon Society and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (CLO), and sponsored in part by Wild Birds Unlimited. Whether you're an Audubon member or not (most counters are not!), join the count and be counted in 2008. Your participation is valuable. Locally, the more data that's gathered from our locale, the more the status of our birds in winter and their needs for any special help is understood. On a larger scale, the continent-wide data collected by the GBBC reveals changes in numbers, timing and patterns of migration, expansion of areas of winter residency, and sightings of the unexpected oddball visitor when all data is subsequently correlated with local and regional factors like temperature, wind, snow cover.
Carolyn Smith, President of PHAS and Putnam Valley resident, likes to quote Dr John Fitzpatrick, Director of CLO: "This project has become a major source of scientific information about North American bird populations....It is a classic example of the vital role citizens and the Internet now play in understanding our planet."
Participation is truly easy. You pick the day(s): any time from Friday, 2/15 through Monday 2/18 (1,2,3,or all 4 days). You pick the place: backyard, balcony, school yard, park, river front. You decide the time(s) spent counting: 15 minutes or more. And since there's no commitment, there's no guilt if you only count 2 days when you planned to count 4. All ages and skill levels are welcome to join in the fee-free fun. Simple online data submission, which can be done well after the GBBC is over but is more fun to do that day and watch the results flying in.
All you have to do - before February 15 - is go to www.birdsource.org/gbbc and print out the local bird checklist. Then, following the truly simple instructions, count and submit your data, and enjoy viewing the continually updated maps and lists that will include your data.
Past-president of PHAS, Nancy P Durr, reviewed the outstanding achievement of GBBC 2007 [over 2006]: 81,203 [60,616] checklists documenting 613 [623] species with 11,082,387 [7,590,882] birds counted! In 2007 NYS took 1st place for number of checklists with 5,099 [3,978]; Ithaca was the top NYS city with 186 [177], not surprising since it's the home of CLO.
Most counters (even socalled 'serious birders') just watch their yard and any feeders with a more scientific eye than usual. Others make a party of it and have friends over. Some take the occasion to introduce a child or grandchild to the joys of watching feathered friends while improving counting and list-making skills.
Check out the GBBC master website www.birdsource.org/ gbbc now to be inspired by the valuable results of last year's count, view the photo gallery, print out your checklist, and get ready for some unusual fun this holiday weekend. Smith says "Your participation might just make this the biggest, most valuable citizen-science bird project yet."
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