Looking for a way to enjoy the great outdoors this February? Join millions of bird watchers across North America and the world in a free, fun event that involves all ages. Count birds in your backyard or anywhere to help make your love of nature create a real-time snapshot of bird populations. Participate in the 24th annual Great Backyard Bird Count during Presidents’ Day weekend, Friday through Monday, February 12-15, 2021.
Led by Audubon and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, anyone – expert or novice — can count birds from wherever they are and enter their tallies online and see the results or their observations and those of thousands of others within minutes. Go to birdcount.org for more information and to submit your observations during the Bird Count weekend.
Young and old, experienced or not, you are invited to take part wherever you are—at home, in schoolyards, at local parks or wildlife refuges. Keep a count for as little as 15 minutes or as long as you wish. On the birdcount.org website, you can compare results from your town or region with others, as checklists pour in from throughout the U.S. and all over the world. In 2020, over 260,000 participants worldwide sent in checklists tallying nearly 7,000 species, more than half the number of known species in the world.
These reports contribute valuable information for science and conservation. Bird populations are dynamic; they are constantly in flux, as they are affected by short-term weather and long-term climate change. And while they are gathering data, participants – families, teachers, children — enjoy nature and have fun!
