Gearing up for the Great Backyard Bird Count

Volunteers track which birds visit their feeders and share information with scientists

Jill Jackson was thrilled to spy a yellowbellied sapsucker in her backyard this week.

“It is not very common,” she said. A red-bellied woodpecker and redbreasted nuthatches are also new visitors to her Welland backyard.

While Jackson finds birdwatching a fun and relaxing hobby, she’s also a birdwatcher with a purpose.

She has been participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count, a global program that tracks birds with the help of backyard bird fanciers, for the past four years.

During last year’s count, she recorded 12 species and 63 individuals birds.

“I think cardinals and goldfinches are beautiful and house finches sing a lovely song,” she said. “I like to see the downy woodpeckers and I have a Cooper’s hawk that visits occasionally.”

The Great Backyard Bird Count, now in its 24th year, involves volunteers recording which birds visit their bird feeders and sharing the information with scientists.

The data contributes to a snapshot of bird distribution patterns and helps scientists record changes over time.

Participants count the birds they see for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count — from Feb. 12 to 15 — then enter their checklists at birdcount.org.

When the program was launched in 1998, volunteers submitted about 13,500 checklists from Canada and the United States.

In 2020, birdwatchers from more than 100 countries set a record, turning in nearly 250,000 checklists.

The bird count is a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in New York, the National Audubon Society and Birds Canada.

David Bonter, of Cornell University, said counting birds is a simple project that both veteran and new birdwatchers can enjoy.

“Birds are everywhere and can be counted in backyards, neighbourhoods, suburban parks, wild areas and cities,” he said. “Scientists need the eyes of the world to collect information about where the birds are.”

Participants are urged to watch birds safely in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. That means following health and safety protocol and not gathering in large groups.