Letter from NAS and Cornell

Alan Anderson shares the following letter from National Audubon and Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

Dear Great Backyard Bird Count participant,

National Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology would like to thank you for taking part in the 8th annual Great Backyard Bird Count this February. You contributed to the most comprehensive GBBC count ever--613 species and 6.5 million birds were tallied continent wide, shattering the previous records of 567 species and 4.8 million birds, respectively. At the GBBC web site www.birdsource.org/gbbc/, we've posted an article highlighting some of the year's most exciting results, illustrated with colorful photographs from participants. At the web site, you can also explore results compiled from all 51,928 checklists, view animated maps, visit the photo gallery, and find out if your town made the Top-10!

Thank you for being part of this year's success! We hope you’ll join us again next year, February 17-20 2006, for the 9th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count.

Meanwhile, we invite you to participate in other citizen-science projects throughout the year. These include eBird, www.ebird.org, an "anywhere, anytime" online checklist that you can use to keep track of the birds you see, or explore what others are finding across the continent. Your eBird sightings become part of a central database accessible to scientists, educators, and bird watchers. For information about other citizen-science projects, including The Birdhouse Network and the House Finch Nest Survey, visit www.birds.cornell.edu/LabPrograms/CitSci/ and www.audubon.org/bird/citizen/index.html.

With best wishes,

Paul Green, Director of Citizen Science, National Audubon