The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
I SPY A CHICKADEE
Great Backyard Bird Count calls savvy citizen scientists to action on local bird populations
Over Valentine’s Day weekend people all over the world stepped into nature and got to know local birds.
From Feb. 14 through Feb. 16 volunteers and citizen scientists at The West Woods Nature Center in Russell Township participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count to discover a realtime idea of bird populations in Geauga County.
Led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, participants from all over the world were asked to count birds for at least 15 minutes and to record their findings online at birdcount.org.
Heather Beukeman was one of the volunteers at The West Woods who helped with the bird count.
“It’s kind of relaxing and I feel like everybody kind of needs a break.” — Heather Beukeman, volunteer at The West Woods
She looked for birds herself and helped those who stopped by identify and learn more about local wildlife.
“It’s fun to get kids involved and even adults. Some might not know much and then we can share facts with them. And it’s nice to learn from other people, too. I’m not an expert birder in any way and sometimes something cool that I didn’t know will get pointed out to me,” Beukeman said.
The large windows at The West Woods Nature Center had bird feeders front and center to attract the likes of northern cardinals, mourning doves and black-capped chickadees, among other species. The windows gave volunteers and citizen scientists a wide view to watch and identify the different kinds of birds.
Rare appearances over the weekend included Cooper’s and red-tailed hawks and a house finch, each with one sighting between Feb. 14 and Feb 15.
The 2020 worldwide count tallied over 16 million bird sightings.
Beukeman said they were
“It’s kind of relaxing and I feel like everybody kind of needs a break. It’s just something we can all benefit from. You get to experience nature and for the people that don’t want to go outside because it’s cold, they can come out here to The West Woods.” — Heather Beukeman
particular to avoid counting the same birds twice.
“So if we see two blue jays, we would mark them down, but we won’t add another blue jay until we see a total of three, so we don’t recount,” said Beukeman. “For example, the chickadees like to come grab one seed and then they’ll fly away to eat it. Then they’ll come back to grab two and store another one.”
While Beukeman takes enjoyment in bird counting, she said the data obtained can help scientists learn more about birds, our shared environments and ways to protect them.
“For the most part, we have the same common birds that come to the bird feeder, but it’s still a great citizen science project and turns around a lot of data, which is helpful because we just learned in September that birds are in great decline,” Beukeman said.
In 2019, the journal Science published findings that nearly 30 percent of birds in the continental U.S. and Canada have vanished since 1970.
Beukeman shared ways to combat this loss of wildlife at home by having a bird feeder, providing water and by planting attractive flowers and bushes.
The Great Backyard Bird Count is one of the National Audubon Society’s bird counts, with another taking place around Christmas.
“It’s kind of relaxing and I feel like everybody kind of needs a break,” Beukeman said. “It’s just something we can all benefit from. You get to experience nature and for the people that don’t want to go outside because it’s cold, they can come out here to The West Woods.”