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Great Backyard Bird Count fast approaching



Greetings, Chatters & Carolinabirders-

The Great Backyard Bird Count, developed and managed by the Cornell Lab of 
Ornithology and Audubon, will take place February 15 - 18. As in previous 
years, we've continued to make improvements based on your good feedback and 
as resources have allowed (revised versions of the checklists are now up on 
the website, and we will continue to make adjustments.) We'll now be able 
to display write-in species almost immediately. For an overview of the 
project, its evolution, and goals, please visit http://www.birdsource.org 
and read John Fitzpatrick and Frank Gill's "Letter from the Directors."

For this year, we are pleased to be collaborating with Bill Hilton Jr. of 
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, in SC. As you may know, 
Bill is a hummingbird bander interested in the large numbers of "western" 
and Mexican hummingbirds that have shown up this winter east of the 
Rockies. As part of the Great Backyard Bird Count, participants who observe 
winter hummers can alert Bill and learn more about the vagrants. As reports 
come in, Bill will relay the information to hummingbird experts or banders 
who may wish to authenticate the sightings and perhaps band the birds. This 
is a great example of how "citizen science" on the GBBC can go beyond just 
observing backyard birds, and we hope lots of participants will have new 
winter hummers to report. (Bill also is linking to the GBBC from his Web 
site at http://www.hiltonpond.org.)

Participation in the Great Backyard Bird Count is easy - just count the 
numbers and kinds of birds you see in your backyard, local park, wildlife 
refuge, or other area and send them in through the BirdSource website at 
http://www.birdsource.org. Keep track of the postal code and time spent 
birding. You'll be able to quickly see how your reports are contributing to 
the continent-wide picture. The primary purpose of the count is to create a 
massive database of North American birds so that researchers can track 
changes in bird distribution and abundance. However, we work hard to keep 
it fun and educational. This year, in response to the Harry Potter frenzy, 
we have put together an owl feature that we hope you and your family or 
school group will enjoy. In the next day or so, we hope to have up on the 
site some additional findings from the snow-depth data you provided (last 
year, we received about 52,000 snow depth reports!) You'll also find a 
variety of bird identification, conservation, and education materials.

For more information about the GBBC, visit the web site. Feel free to print 
out any material from the site and send it along to others. Those not 
online who wish to participate can submit their data at their local 
library, they can call their local Audubon chapter for assistance, or they 
can contact their nearest Wild Birds Unlimited store (WBU sponsors the 
count), which may be submitting reports depending on the store. The Lab's 
volunteers will also enter as many reports as possible. Reports can be sent 
to the Lab at GBBC, 159 Sapsucker Woods Rd., Ithaca, NY 14850. (To request 
an "offline packet," email cornellbirds@cornell.edu)

Please feel free to forward this message to friends, family, and 
appropriate listservs. As always, we appreciate your participation!

Allison Wells/Sally Conyne
Communications and Outreach/Director Citizen Science
Cornell Lab of Ornithology/Audubon
http://www.birds.cornell.edu http://www.audubon.org