Great Backyard Bird Count

Birds are all around us, all the time, and doing extraordinary things. Feel at home with wildlife this month by participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count, which this year runs from February 18 through February 21. You’ll be joining the ranks of hundreds of thousands of people across the world doing the same thing: enjoying their neighborhood birds while contributing to scientific research. Since 1998, people have been invited to count the birds in their backyards and report their findings, thus providing important data that researchers use to track changes in bird populations.

To recognize this great citizen-science tradition, we’re coming out with a new collection to support our local birds. After all, each of us can do our part to keep common birds common. You can find information on how to participate in the four-day count, which is a joint project of the National Audubon Society, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Birds Canada, at https://www.birdcount.org/. 

Each participant counts birds for any length of time (at least 15 minutes) and reports what they see online. It’s a tradition geared toward people of all skill levels – look no further than the 2021 count, in which an estimated 300,000 people worldwide reported 6,436 species on their checklists.

You can count anywhere, from your backyard feeders to a local park, from the rooftop of your apartment building to a national wildlife refuge. And you can move around, too, so no need to stick to one spot. Get outdoors, connect with nature, and let us know what you see!