Great Backyard Bird Count
The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is citizen science in action. Average citizens can take their passion for birding and help scientisists track and identify trends in bird populations. This annual Presidents' Day Weekend event is an opportunity for you to count the birds in your backyard and beyond. You can report your findings to the GBBC website, and view your results with those of others. (Operated in partnership with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.) Click here to read more about the national efforts or see a slide show . See GBBC poster here.
Millions of novice and accomplished bird watchers can make their fascination with nature add up for science and for the future during the 11th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, led by Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. During “Presidents’ Day” weekend, February 12–15, 2010, anyone can count birds from wherever they are and enter their tallies online at www.birdcount.org. These reports create an exciting real-time picture of where the birds are across the continent and contribute valuable information for science and conservation. “These volunteers are counting not only for fun but for the future,” said Tom Bancroft, Chief Science Officer for Audubon. “Each tally helps us learn more about how our North American birds are doing, and what that says about the health and the future of our environment.”
People of all ages and experience levels are invited to take part wherever they are—at home, in schoolyards, at local parks or wildlife refuges, even counting birds on a balcony. Observers count the highest number of each species they see during at least 15 minutes on one or more of the count days. Then they enter their tallies on the Great Backyard Bird Count web site www.birdcount.org. The web site provides helpful hints for identifying birds. Participants can compare results from their town or region with others, as checklists pour in from throughout the U.S. and Canada. They can also view bird photos taken by participants during the count and send in their own digital images for the online photo gallery and contest. In 2007, Great Backyard Bird Count participants made history, breaking records for the number of birds reported, and the number of checklists. Participants sent in 81,203 checklists tallying 11,082,387 birds of 613 species.
Thanks to members of Sacramento Audubon Society, the local participation in the 2008 count went up significantly from 25 checklists submitted last year to 69 submitted for the city of Sacramento alone. Other cities in our area where we “put out the word” increased similarly. Several folks went above and beyond the call to get a special species for the state list and we’d like to especially recognize Jerry Towner for participating for his 8th year in a row!
In 2008, Sacramento (69) moved up to third place in California cities for number of checklists submitted - behind Redding (108) and San Jose (91). A total of 93 species were reported in Sacramento alone! Texas (335) beat California (330) by only 5 species.
In 2009, well over 200 checklists were submitted in Greater Sacramento (from West Sac to Folsom in the east and Roseville in the north to ElkGrove in the south).
In 2010, over 400 checklists were submitted in Sacramento, almost 800 in Sacramento County and over 900 in Greater Sacramento (including West Sac and Roseville). More than 300 people attended the workshops conducted by Julie Serences, the Education Committee chair.
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