Every February, just before birds start to migrate north in the spring, bird watchers from around the world come together to participate in a four-day event called the Great Backyard Bird Count.
Everyone – from experienced birders to novices – are invited to help scientists better understand how bird populations are declining worldwide.
“This project puts data in real time in front of people,” said Becca Rodomsky-Bish, project leader of the Great Backyard Bird Count at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “You can track what birds are coming in around the world, what people are seeing, where they're seeing them.”
The lab, along with the National Audubon Society, launched the online citizen-science project back in 1998 to collect bird sightings and sounds from around the globe.
This year, the bird count will take place on Friday, Feb. 13, and last until Monday, Feb. 16.
Overall, bird populations across the globe are diminishing at an eye-popping rate, with steep declines in some of the most common species such as sparrows, blackbirds, and robins.
Rodomsky-Bish calls the population shift “scary,” because it means climate change, urbanization, and other factors are affecting more than just rare birds. This, she said, is why public participation in large-scale data projects is so important.
“If you want to see birds in 50 years, you need as many people as possible falling in love with them and wanting to protect them because they're in trouble,” Rodomsky-Bish said.
Here in New Mexico, studies have shown a 73% drop in bird numbers on the Pajarito Plateau and an over 80% decline in Pinyon Jays over the past half-century.
Researchers consistently point the finger at massive vegetation “die-offs” from extreme heat and drought as the culprit, forcing the southwest’s desert-dwelling birds to look elsewhere for food.
In addition to keeping an eye on “common” birds, the Cornell lab is interested in “grassland” bird populations in the Midwest as the agricultural industry there shifts and grows.
Overall, Rodomsky-Bish said that participation in the Great Backyard Bird Count is fairly easy.
All you have to do is pick a spot like a park bench or backyard and simply identify all the birds that you see and hear for at least 15 minutes.
While some can rely on their expertise to identify birds by sound or sight, there are tools to help aid beginner birders – such as Cornell’s Merlin Bird ID app or the eBird tool.
For birders who already use these apps to log sightings, entries spanning the four days will automatically go towards the count.
Others will need to sign up for these tools in order to participate.
All the bird sightings are then stored in the eBird database, providing comprehensive public data on bird populations for scientific research, policy, and environmental stewardship.
“The more data we have, the more we can begin to answer some of those questions about where birds are and where they aren’t,” Rodomsky-Bish said.
