New York, NY and Ithaca, NY—Bird watchers coast to coast are invited to take part in the 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, Friday, February 12, through Monday, February 15, 2010.  Participants in the free event will join tens of thousands of volunteers counting birds in their own backyards, local parks or wildlife refuges.

Each checklist submitted by these “citizen scientists” helps researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society learn more about how the birds are doing—and how to protect them. Last year, participants turned in more than 93,600 checklists online, creating the continent’s largest instantaneous snapshot of bird populations ever recorded.

“Taking part in the Great Backyard Bird Count is a great way to get outside with family and friends, have fun, and help birds—all at the same time,” said Audubon Education Vice President, Judy Braus. “Even if you can only identify a few species you can provide important information that enables scientists to learn more about how the environment is changing and how that affects our conservation priorities.”

Anyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from novice bird watchers to experts. Participants count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the event and report their sightings online at www.birdcount.org. One 2009 participant said, “Thank you for the opportunity to participate in citizen science. I have had my eyes opened to a whole new interest and I love it!”

“The GBBC is a perfect first step towards the sort of intensive monitoring needed to discover how birds are responding to environmental change,” said Janis Dickinson, the director of Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab. “Winter is such a vulnerable period for birds, so winter bird distributions are likely to be very sensitive to change. There is only one way—citizen science—to gather data on private lands where people live and GBBC has been doing this across the continent for many years. GBBC has enormous potential both as an early warning system and in capturing and engaging people in more intensive sampling of birds across the landscape.”

Bird populations are always shifting and changing. For example, 2009 GBBC data highlighted a huge southern invasion of Pine Siskins across much of the eastern United States. Participants counted 279,469 Pine Siskins on 18,528 checklists, as compared to the previous high of 38,977 birds on 4,069 checklists in 2005. Failure of seed crops farther north caused the siskins to move south to find their favorite food.

On the www.birdcount.org website, participants can explore real-time maps and charts that show what others are reporting during the count. The site has tips to help identify birds and special materials for educators. Participants may also enter the GBBC photo contest by uploading images taken during the count. Many images will be featured in the GBBC website’s photo gallery. All participants are entered in a drawing for prizes that include bird feeders, binoculars, books, CDs, and many other great birding products.

For more information about the GBBC, visit the website at www.birdcount.org. Or contact the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at (800) 843-2473 or (outside the U.S., call (607) 254-2473) or gbbc@cornell.edu, or Audubon at citizenscience@audubon.org or 202-861-2242 ext 3050.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is made possible, in part, by generous support from Wild Birds Unlimited.

Editors: Please go the GBBC News Room for high-resolution images, top-10 lists, FAQS, and results of the 2009 count. To interview a participant in your area, please get in touch with one of the media contacts listed below.

Contacts:

• Pat Leonard, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, (607) 254-2137, pel27@cornell.edu

• Delta Willis, Audubon, (212) 979-3197, dwillis@audubon.org

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a nonprofit membership institution interpreting and conserving the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds. Visit the Cornell Lab’s website at www.birds.cornell.edu.

Audubon is dedicated to protecting birds and other wildlife and the habitat that supports them. Our national network of community-based nature centers and chapters, scientific and educational programs, and advocacy on behalf of areas sustaining important bird populations, engage millions of people of all ages and backgrounds in conservation. www.audubon.org

“WGC”–October 31,2009
On a chilly, calm Saturday morning, eleven birders gathered at Towne
Crier.  Most had breakfast before traveling to Haskell County to view
the geese at and coming to Winchester Lake.  Since the lake is on
private property, we birded from a gravel read near by.  This made a
good place to set Joe’s telescope and the club scope between the three
vehicles.  We tried to encourage the geese to land on the near shore of
the lake, but they refused to cooperate.  At least, we had “optics” to
help to see them better.
Birders were Kim Berry, Linda Collins, Kathy Hampton, Bill Hughes, Bera
Johnson, Larry Millar, Edna Ross, Dan Symonds, Bonnie and Joe Thompson,
and Charlene Wheeler.  Some were rather new birders.  Everyone enjoyed
sharing “optics” and pointing pictures in guide books to identify birds
and help some to get several new life birds.

The most common bird was the Greater White-fronted Goose.  There were
hundreds of them.  They are very graceful and show beautiful colors as
they circle the water with wings and tail spread.  Then they put down
their yellow landing gear and oh so gently settle on the water without a
splash!

Two coyotes and a deer attracted much attention.  Larry Millar was
delighted to find a nanny goat’s head and horns, and one ram’s horn to
take back to school for his art students to draw.

In 1995 Ben Black built four Bluebird Boxes to be put up at Oakwood Trails. Among those who attached boxes to poles, dug holes for the poles and set them were Lorie Black, Laura Packer, Charlene and Tom Wheeler. Through the years, all of these have continued to have a keen interest in the Bluebirds of Oakwood Trails.  Laura also tended the 42 Bluebird boxes at Dyess Air Force Base.

The Texas Bluebird Society Board of Directors sent this True Blue Friend Plaque to Randy Packer in Memory of Laura Packer. It was installed on Bluebird Box #3 at Oakwood Trails, Saturday, September 26, 2009 by Dan Symonds, Charlene Wheeler, and Kathy Hampton.  Thanks Randy for Sharing. The TBS’s motto is “Bluebirds Across Texas…one nestbox at a time.”

It was so fitting that on this gorgeous morning we saw at this site numerous White-wing Dove, Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, Barn Swallows, a Golden-fronted Woodpecker, and FOUR Eastern Bluebirds.  Thanks Bluebirds for your “Flyover for Laura!”

Kathy

Big Country Audubon is pleased to announce that our bird blind at the Abilene State Park is now ready for birders, wildlife watchers, and birds! In September, 2007, the blind was delivered to the State Park. Over the next few months our eager volunteers painted the inside, hung feeders, and constructed a water feature. Immediately the birds found the food and water; cameras found the birds; and we hope you find the Bird Blind Photos!

And now I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the wonderful TPWD personnel for helping us with our project: Paul, Okie, Bobby, and Cody. Big Country Audubon volunteers who helped make this dream a reality: John, Lorie, Kathy, Joan, Charline, Carolyn, W.K, Steve, Heidi, Dan, Bera, and Peggy. Special thanks to Earth Share of Texas, and Texas Audubon for helping us achieve our goals.

There’ll be a few more improvements in the near future and we look forward to seeing all at our grand opening during the Abilene State Park Spring Festival, April 19. Stay tuned; I’m sure there will be more birds-from-the-blind photos to come.

Big Country Audubon had another wonderful Christmas Social this past December, 2007. And like the 2006 social, I got a little inventive on the captions. Thanks to everyone for making 2007 a great year! Pictures are up at Christmas Social 2007.

And, did you know Tom, Toni, Carolyn, and WK found THE rarest bird ever recorded on Christmas Bird Count? It was a very rare bird for the Abilene area and I’m pretty sure it’s the rarest seen in North America. Ornithologists are still trying to determine how to classify it. For a complete list of birds seen on our 2007 CBC, check out the Christmas Bird Count 2007 list. Anyone wanting a copy for their personal records, let me know and I’ll get one to you.

Nothing brings a group together like humor. Upon popular demand the Unusual Bird Sightings presentation has been reproduced. Any resemblance to actual persons is strictly accidental. No birds were harmed in the making of this presentation; I don’t know about the people.

If you don’t see your likeness here; it is only a matter of time before the club president immortalizes your image.

I finally remembered to take pictures of our club field trip to San Angelo. (I was getting tired of staring at Christmas pictures). Two highlights of the day: watching a Great Blue Heron Rookery at Lake Nasworthy, and eating hamburgers at San Angelo State Park compliments of Leon and Bera. The heron pictures are in the Heron Rookery Album, and pictures of our cookout are in the San Angelo Field Trip album. Sometimes events meld together but if you follow the links, I think you can figure it out. Everyone had a good time and the creative captions under the pictures are totaly made up to keep you from falling asleep. And if you’re still awake and want more boredom, a list of what was seen is posted in the Sightings section.

Thanks to everyone for making our Christmas gathering fun, festive, surprising, and tasty! The food was delicious, the entertainment informative, and the surprise unexpected. I enjoyed seeing everyone; you are a special group of friends that I can share my enthusiastic joy of birding with. Thank You All for the goodies you brought. A big Thank You to my non-birding spouse for providing the entertainment. I know the hours it took to produce twenty minutes of video. A huge Thank You to Kim for allowing me and John to run around on base and bring you images of the birdlife there. And another Thank You to John for always having a camera handy. I’ve posted a few pictures; they’re in the Christmas Social, 2006 album under Club Activities. Because these photos are candid and not posed (well, one of them was posed), I took the liberty of being a tad creative with captions. I love you all, see you in the field on CBC!

A few Big Country Audubon members met Saturday, September 23, 2006, to look for the Great Kiskadee and then bird the Old Fort Phantom area. The kiskadee did a fast fly by leaving many with dissatisfied looks. So off we went to the Old Fort Phantom area to see what was hopping or flying about. Finding the area dead birdless, we headed to Waste Water Treatment Plant in Jones County. There we found a variety of birds and some allowed us to snap their pictures. Hey, check out our fine taste in birding fashion. Did I hear someone complain about the lead car’s quick left turn? You can see a complete list of species recorded in our Sightings section, too.

Big Country Audubon had their Annual Meeting Thursday, September 7, at Oakwood Trails. We all had a great time visiting with each other, eating, birding, eating, electing new officers, eating, and well, you get the point. Thanks to all who brought food, drinks, and desserts! And thanks to all who’ve worked so hard to make the past year remarkable. Special thanks goes to Lorie for her three years of excellent leadership; to Dolores for her newsletter work; to Charline for keeping us in the black; to John for his ability to continually bring us closer to the birds; to Joan and Kathy for picking great birding spots; to Esta for keeping the public informed; and to Jay for creating this web site.

I’m looking forward to another great year.