February 6, 2019 — It’s easy to participate in the upcoming Great Backyard Bird Count! For 15 minutes or more, during one or more days of the count — February 15 to 18 — simply tally the numbers and the species of birds you see. You can count from any location, anywhere in the world, for as long as you wish, as many times and places as you wish! The count is not limited to backyards, but your yard is a great place to participate. More than 160,000 birders of all ages and walks of life worldwide join the Great Backyard Bird Count each February to create an annual snapshot of the distribution and abundance of birds.
Plan to participate with your family, join together with your birding friends, share the information with a teacher to suggest a fun school project, or do it on your own — join the fun and help gather important information about birds. Last year, Great Backyard Bird Count participants in more than 100 countries counted 6,459 species of birds they submitted on 180,642 checklists!
That’s amazing in itself, but during the count, you can explore what others are seeing in your area, across the country or around the world by monitoring the Count in near real-time online. And you can share your bird photos by entering the photo contest, or enjoy photos pouring in by fellow birders from across the globe.
The Great Backyard Bird Count was launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, and joined by Bird Studies Canada. It was the first online citizen-science project to collect data about wild birds and display the results in near real-time.
Join the Count February 15 to 18! It’s as easy as A, B, C!
A. Count birds for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the GBBC. Of course, you can count for longer if you wish! Count birds in as many places and on as many days as you like; one day, two days or all four days. Submit a separate checklist for each new day, for each new location, and for the same location if you count at a different time of day.
B. If you have already created an account for the GBBC in the past, or if you’re already registered with eBird or another Cornell Lab citizen-science project, you can use your existing user name and password. Otherwise, create a free GBBC account.
C. Enter your results on the GBBC website by clicking the “Submit Observations” tab on the home page. You may also download the free eBird Mobile app to enter data on a mobile device. If you already participate in the eBird citizen-science project, please use eBird to submit your sightings during the GBBC — your checklists will count toward the GBBC.
