Annual Great Backyard Bird Count to end on Monday

The event is sponsored by the Cornell lab of Ornithology. The four day event which started on Friday is also seen as a great way to involve children and families, in everyday science.
Great event for the families
Brooke Lever of Germantown said, “The Great Backyard Bird Count is a fun way to teach young children about common backyard birds. We like to bird in the Black Hill Regional Park and the bordering neighborhoods.” Lever had been participating in the event since her childhood and she continued it with her husband and children, after her marriage in 2000. She said that her family regularly spotted birds like crows, vultures, woodpeckers and a host of other variety of birds in their town.
Participation is easy
Participation in the event is easy. Bird watchers need to download a regional birding tally sheet, along with the official rules and start the count. Spending only 15 minutes in your backyard is enough. The data has to be submitted at the website of the GBBC. Last year’s data showed that the towns of Mentor, Ohio, Columbia, Ky., Charlotte, N.C., were respectively on the top three places. Overall topper was Texas, followed by California. More than 97,000 amateur birdwatchers help in counting the 11.2 million birds, belonging to 603 species. The information helps the experts in finding out the fate of these birds. This is one of the several events aimed at encouraging bird watching, by people of all ages. Another event will be focusing on bird baths and bird feeders, in the back yard. Some of the places where bird watchers converge are the Black Hill regional Park, Meadowside Nature Centre and Croydon Creek Nature Centre. You just need to bring along your binoculars and there will be birding guides available, during the event.