Participate in the National Audubon Society/Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s 9th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count

The 9th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) will take place February 17-20. For this special bird count, The National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are specifically asking birders to share their passion with someone new to the wonderful pastime of bird watching.

This is the prefect opportunity to call up that friend of yours who is always leaving messages on your answering machine about birds they’ve seen in the neighborhood but can’t identify, and invite them to come out for a relaxing and educational day of feeder and yard birding. Every participant in the GBBC contributes to scientific knowledge by joining the only count that creates a mid-winter snapshot of what birds are present across North America.

There is no fee to join, and participants can count birds for as little or as long as they wish. Counters note the highest number of each species they see at any one time and enter their sightings online at www.birdsource.org/gbbc. The web site also includes
instructions and bird watching tips.

The count is sponsored by Wild Birds Unlimited. In 2005, birders sent in more than 52,000 checklists, with a record-breaking 613 species and more than 6.5 million birds counted. By visiting the results pages at www.birdsource.org/gbbc, participants can look up reports from their own towns or from any other town across the nation and read scientific analysis based on the data about the changing numbers and distributions of birds.

This year's data could help shed light on how birds may have been affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as provide crucial information on declining species such as the rusty blackbird and painted bunting.

This year, awards will be given to states, provinces, and localities that submit the most checklists. Participants can also enter a photo contest by taking pictures of birds during the event and sending them for posting on the GBBC online photo gallery.

For more information, contact the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at 1-800-843-2473 or e-mail cornellbirds@cornell.edu, or the National Audubon Society at (215) 355-9588, Ext. 16, or e-mail citizenscience@audubon.org.