The Great Backyard Bird Count Starts Friday, February 17th-Dan’s Almost Daily Journal

Volume 54-Tag Along With Me on My Sometimes Boring Sometimes Interesting Sometimes Humorous Journey Through Life

Welcome back. As many of you know, I am an avid birdwatcher and participate in Project FeederWatch each year. This runs each November through April and includes participants throughout the U.S. and Canada. I recently wrote about this project and shared some photos:

Another project I look forward to each year is the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), which takes place each February for 4 consecutive days. This project, however, is worldwide.

Are you looking for a new hobby? You can’t go wrong with birdwatching. This 4-day event (GBBC) is a great way to give birdwatching a try. It is a great hobby that can be enjoyed by one person or a family. Kids love to get involved in identifying and counting birds.

The Great Backyard Bird Count can be conducted from your home (watching your favorite feeders), or outside at your favorite park, etc.

A Closer Look

For Project FeederWatch, participants submit a two-day species count each week from one location. In other words, the maximum number of individuals for each species observed over the 2 days.

For the GBBC, participants submit counts for each of the 4 days, and checklists may be submitted for different locations. You can submit the same observations to both Project FeederWatch and the GBBC.

Following is a video about the GBBC.

Observations from your counts can be submitted 3 ways. Probably the most common is to just go to the website, create an account, and enter your counts (counts recorded through eBird). However, you may also use the eBird or Merlin mobile apps. These are free to use.

Participation Instructions From the GBBC Website:

How to Participate

Participating is easy, fun to do alone or with others, and can be done anywhere you find birds.

Step 1: Decide where you will watch birds.

Step 2: Watch birds for 15 minutes or more, at least once over the four days, February 17–20, 2023.

Step 3: Identify all the birds you see or hear within your planned time/location and use the best tool for sharing your bird sightings:

• If you are a beginning bird admirer and new to bird identification, try using the Merlin Bird ID app to tell us what birds you are seeing or hearing.
• If you have participated in the count before and want to record numbers of birds, try the eBird Mobile app or enter your bird list on the eBird website (desktop/laptop).

If you already contribute to Merlin or eBird, continue what you are doing! All entries over the 4-days count towards GBBC.

Do You Have Further Questions?

This year, there will also be a webinar on Wednesday, February 15th, from 1 to 2 PM. It will be hosted by experts from Audobon, Birds Canada, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Get your questions answered about bird ID, counting birds, and more. You can register here:

I hope you participate in this great project. You will be providing valuable data and also enjoying this great hobby.