Citizens needed for bird count

Atlanta Audubon Society is seeking citizen scientists to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count this month.

For four days, birdwatchers from across the globe will be counting birds and sharing the information with a community of other bird watchers in near real-time.

The Great Backyard Bird Count collects and displays data in order to create a “snapshot” of the distribution and abundance of birds worldwide in the month of February.

This snapshot helps scientists get a ‘big picture’ glimpse of current trends in bird populations.

Created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society in 1988, the Great Backyard Bird Count was the first participation-based project to collect and display data from birdwatchers across the globe.

Last year, more than 160,000 birdwatchers from more than 130 countries participated in the count and together counted 5,689 different species of birds.

In 2016, Georgians submitted 4,295 checklists and counted 208 different species of birds.

Information gathered during this four-day event is used by scientists in conjunction with data from other citizen science projects, including the Christmas Bird Count, Project FeederWatch, and eBird, to provide a ‘big picture’ look into what is happening to bird populations.

The mission of the Atlanta Audubon Society is to protect Georgia’s birds and their habitats through conservation, education and advocacy. When: Feb. 17 — 21 Where: your own backyard

Register: Great Backyard Bird Count at gbbc.bir dcount.org