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Great Backyard Bird Count planned for Feb. 17 to 20; event marks 20th year
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Bird watchers in Lake County will take part in the President’s Day Weekend Great Backyard Bird Count.
The 20th annual Great Backyard Bird Count is taking place Feb. 17 to 20 in backyards, parks, nature centers, on hiking trails, school grounds, balconies and beaches – anywhere you find birds.
The Great Backyard Bird Count is a great way for people of all ages and backgrounds to connect with nature.
Participation is free and easy. Bird watchers count the birds they see for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count, then enter their checklists at www.birdcount.org .
All the data contributes to a snapshot of bird distribution and help scientists see changes over the past 20 years.
Bird watchers from more than 100 countries participated in last year’s count, documenting over 5,000 species – nearly half the possible bird species in the world – on more than 147,000 bird checklists.
A lot has changed since the first Great Backyard Bird Count was held in 1998. Each year brings unwavering enthusiasm from the growing number of participants in this now-global event.
Since 2006, tens of thousands of stunning images have also been submitted to the event’s photo contest.
For the 20th anniversary, the public is invited to vote for their favorite top photo from each of the past 11 years in a special album they will find on the Great Backyard Bird Count Web site. Voting takes place during the four days of the count.
"The Great Backyard Bird Count is a great way to introduce people to participation in citizen science," said Audubon’s chief scientist Gary Langham. "No other program allows volunteers to take an instantaneous snapshot of global bird populations that can contribute to our understanding of how a changing climate is affecting birds."
To learn more about what scientists discovered the past 20 years and how to take part, visit www.birdcount.org .
The Great Backyard Bird Count is a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society with partner Bird Studies Canada and is made possible in part by sponsor Wild Birds Unlimited.