Beyond Your Backyard - "The Great Backyard Bird Count"

By Kimberly J Epp

Oh the weather outside is frightful, and inside it is more delightful...but even if you only go outside for 15 minutes, or watch from your window, you can do a count of the birds in your yard anytime from today (the 12th) until the 15th. Record the birds species that you see in your own yard at birdcount.org.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is done yearly by people across Canada, and goes from Friday, February 12th to Monday, February 15th (a great activity idea for Family Day). It is run by Bird Studies Canada, is free, fun, and helps get youngsters interested in winter birds.

What you need to do to get started is to first create a free account at http://gbbc.birdcount.org/. You will then count the birds in your yard for 15 minutes or longer anytime during the count period of the 15th to 18th. Then simply submit your observations to http://gbbc.birdcount.org/.

Red-breasted Nuthatch, photo by Krista Routledge

By participating in the count, your information contributes to the valuable research of bird populations. This will be the count's 23rd year, and each year valuable information on bird population size and migration habits are monitored. With songbird populations declining in many areas, this information is crucial.

This can be a great opportunity to learn about which species visits your backyard. If you don't know the species, there are free e-books online or you can look on bird sites, or simply google the description and view the results.

The 2020 count resulted in 6,942 species counted in 194 countries, with a total of 27,270,156 total birds. There were 268,674 participants.

Basically count any species you see, whether they are feeder birds or not – example if you have an owl, falcon or raven. If, for example, you see an American Robin that information will tell researchers what amount of a population over-wintered compared to other areas. Perhaps you have irruptive migrators, that do not always show up each year, such as the Common Redpoll.

Stay tuned for my upcoming column on survival techniques used by birds which help them survive cold snaps - such as what we are currently experiencing.

Epp is an Environmental Educator and writer and can be reached at kepp@shaw.ca or through the Moose Jaw Nature Society's facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/moosejawnaturesociety/.