Taking Part in The Great Backyard Bird Count

My Fiancée Shirley and I enjoy watching birds, so it’s only fitting that we take part in the national Great Backyard Bird Count, a joint venture of Audubon and The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

We took part last year, when the ground was covered not with inches but feet of snow. I know what your saying, "don’t remind me." Well this piece is about the birds, not snow.

Shirley reminded me this morning that this is the weekend of the annual count. The count runs from Feb. 18 through the 21 and is very easy, it only takes 15 minutes of your time.

Shirley and I love to watch the birds. We have feeders, houses and a bird bath. Well, a couple of each but this year we have a heated bird bath which has been very busy this winter.

I decided to take advantage of the warm sunny day to count Friday afternoon. I got paper, pencil and my "Sibley’s Backyard Birds of the Middle Atlantic" folding guide. The guide is great in case something stops outside the window that I am not familiar with.

The first thing I did was put a chair by the window before I got the other stuff. When I went to sit down, my assistant beat me to the chair. My cat Sam was comfortable and had settled in to counting birds. He enjoys watching the feathered friends from the inside, but he really gets excited when a squirrel visits for a treat.

In my 15 minutes, I counted two Tufted Titmouse’s, three Carolina Chickadees, three Cardinals, two Downy Woodpeckers, one each of Goldfinch, Blue Jay Mourning Dove and Blue Bird.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages. The goal is to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent.

I plan to count again tomorrow and Sunday.

Find all of the information on how to participate here.