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Sibley Guide To Birds Now on eNature.com
The entire award-winning Sibley Guide to Birds is now available online at eNature.com. Features such as multiple images of birds that show their various life stages and clear comprehensive text, the Sibley Guide is the premier guide to the birds of the United States.
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February 27, 2009
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The next Great Backyard Bird Count takes place February 13-16, 2009. The National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are calling on everyone to “Count for Fun, Count for the Future!”
Participants did just that in record numbers for the 2008 count, submitting more than 85,000 checklists and identifying 635 species. Let’s break some more records this year!
GBBC news release posted on the web site. You’ll also find an updated version of the slide show for use in GBBC workshops and other events.
GBBC Ambassadors Needed
As always, we rely on volunteer ambassadors to help spread the word about the GBBC and engage more people in their communities. Your contribution could be as simple as hanging up a few flyers or as ambitious as pitching the event on local radio and TV stations. You can use the new
For more ideas on how to promote the GBBC, check out Get Involved on the GBBC website. You can fill out the online ambassador sign-up form and specify the kinds of activities you’d like to do.
JOIN THE GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT
Count for Fun, Count for the Future
New York, NY and Ithaca, NY—Bird and nature fans throughout North America are invited to join tens of thousands of everyday bird watchers for the 12th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), February 13-16, 2009.
A joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, this free event is an opportunity for families, students, and people of all ages to discover the wonders of nature in backyards, schoolyards, and local parks, and, at the same time, make an important contribution to conservation. Participants count birds and report their sightings online at www.birdcount.org.
“The Great Backyard Bird Count benefits both birds and people. It’s a great example of citizen science: Anyone who can identify even a few species can contribute to the body of knowledge that is used to inform conservation efforts to protect birds and biodiversity,” said Audubon Education VP, Judy Braus. “Families, teachers, children and all those who take part in GBBC get a chance to improve their observation skills, enjoy nature, and have a great time counting for fun, counting for the future.”
Anyone can take part, from novice bird watchers to experts, by counting birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the event and reporting their sightings online at www.birdcount.org. Participants can also explore what birds others are finding in their backyards—whether in their own neighborhood or thousands of miles away. Additional online resources include tips to help identify birds, a photo gallery, and special materials for educators.
The data these “citizen scientists” collect helps researchers understand bird population trends, information that is critical for effective conservation. Their efforts enable everyone to see what would otherwise be impossible: a comprehensive picture of where birds are in late winter and how their numbers and distribution compare with previous years. In 2008, participants submitted more than 85,000 checklists.
“The GBBC has become a vital link in the arsenal of continent-wide bird-monitoring projects,” said Cornell Lab of Ornithology director, John Fitzpatrick. “With more than a decade of data now in hand, the GBBC has documented the fine-grained details of late-winter bird distributions better than any project in history, including some truly striking changes just over the past decade.”
Each year, in addition to entering their tallies, participants submit thousands of digital images for the GBBC photo contest. Many are featured in the popular online gallery. Participants in the 2009 count are also invited to upload their bird videos to YouTube; some will also be featured on the GBBC web site. Visit www.birdcount.org to learn more.
Businesses, schools, nature clubs, Scout troops, and other community organizations interested in the GBBC can contact the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at (800) 843-2473 (outside the U.S., call (607) 254-2473), or Audubon at citizenscience@audubon.org or (215) 355-9588, Ext 16.
The Great Backyard Bird Count is made possible, in part, by support from Wild Birds Unlimited
The 2008-09 season of Project FeederWatch began Saturday, November 8. You can sign up at any time. FeederWatchers keep track of their birds through the winter and report their tallies each week.
Watching birds benefits science, but it can also be a healthy part of your routine. Hundreds of studies have verified that time spent watching nature can reduce stress. Bird watching is an educational hobby for families. Children love learning about birds! So why not slow down and watch the birds? All you need is a birdfeeder with birdseed, an inexpensive pair of binoculars (under $20), and a bird field guide for your part of the US or Canada. Peterson and Sibley write great field guides.
Visit the PFW web site to learn more and to sign up. New participants receive a kit with a handbook, a bird-identification poster, calendar, and instruction booklet. There is a $15 fee ($12 for Lab members.) If you live in Canada, please visit our partner, Bird Studies Canada or call (888) 448-2473.
American Robin Eggs
Ian Fleming, consummate birder, best known as the author who penned the James Bond novels. Fleming borrowed the name James Bond from the author of Birds of the West Indies and named his Jamaican estate Goldeneye, after the duck and the code name for a World War II undercover mission.
Agatha Christie, whose Miss Marple character, like her, never ventured far without binoculars – Christie to watch birds, Marple to detect criminal behavior.
Abraham Lincoln, whose tenderness for bird life was exemplified one day when riding with two other attorneys through the countryside. He came upon a fallen robin’s nest with forlorn chicks. He promptly dismounted, cradled the nest in his hands, climbed the tree, and replaced the nest. To his colleagues he said, “Gentlemen, I could not have slept tonight, if I had left those helpless little robins to perish in the wet grass.”
Winnie the Pooh, in addition to befriending Owl and other bird friends of the 100-Aker Wood, mused about birds in his famous riddle, “Coddlestone, coddleston, coddleston pie, a fly can’t bird a bird can fly…..”
E. B. Whitekept a Peterson Field Guide handy at his Maine saltwater farm. He wrote several essays about birds, birding, and Peterson’s field guide for the New Yorker. He also expressed his fascination for birds in Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan. In the field, around the house, in the barn, in the woods, in the swamp – everywhere love and songs and nests and eggs.”
George Plimpton, author, explorer, and birder extraordinaire. He and his sister, Sarah, developed lifelong interests in birds as teenagers birding in Florida; George even mounted a quest in search for the Imperial Woodpecker in Mexico.
From a letter from John Fitzpatrick
Louis Aqassiz Fuertes Director
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
We have saved your bird checklist. Thank you for participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count!
| Record ID: S3568828 (You will need to refer to this number if you wish to correspond about your data.) |
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| Locality: 94506, Danville, Contra Costa County, CA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Observation Date: FEB 17, 2008 | Email: randall.whitney@prodigy.net | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Start Time: 11:00 AM | Snow Depth: No snow was present | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total Birding Time: 45 minutes | Location Type: Yard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Party Size: 1Skill: excellentWeather: excellent | Habitat(s): deciduous woods coniferous woods suburban |
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| Number of species: 17 | All Reported: yes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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We have saved your bird checklist. Thank you for participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count!
| Record ID: S3549321 (You will need to refer to this number if you wish to correspond about your data.) |
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| Locality: 94506, Danville, Contra Costa County, CA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Observation Date: FEB 16, 2008 | Email: randall.whitney@prodigy.net | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Start Time: 9:45 AM | Snow Depth: No snow was present | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total Birding Time: 1 hour | Location Type: Yard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Party Size: 1Skill: excellentWeather: excellent | Habitat(s): deciduous woods coniferous woods suburban |
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| Number of species: 18 | All Reported: yes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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You’ll have more fun taking part in the Great Backyard Bird Count if you first learn about the birds you’re most likely to see. We have some fun ways for you to become familiar with birds.
Visit www.birdsource.org/gbbc/kids for coloring pictures, puzzles, and games to get your kids involved in a fun and educational hobby, birdwatching.
How to do the Great Backyard Bird Count
1. Plan to count birds for at least 15 minutes during February 15-18, 2008. You can count each day or just some of the days and you can count in different places. Just be sure to keep a separate list of birds for each day and each location.
2. For each type of bird you see, count the most you see at any one time. For example, maybe you see two chickadees when you start watching, then five chickadees a few minutes later. The number you put on your list for chickadees is five. Do not add two plus five. (That way you won’t accidentally count the same bird twice.)
3. Enter your results on the Great Backyard Bird Count web site! Then watch the maps as more and more people enter their reports.
Great Backyard Bird Count http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc
This year’s 11th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, led by Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, will be held Presidents’ Day weekend, February 15–18, 2008. Anyone in the United States and Canada can count birds from wherever they are and enter their tallies online at www.birdcount.org. These reports create an exciting real-time picture of where the birds are across the continent and contribute valuable information for science and conservation.
Each tally helps us learn more about how our North American birds are doing, and what that says about the health and the future of our environment.
“The GBBC is a great way to engage friends, family, and children in observing nature in their own backyard, where they will discover that the outdoors is full of color, behavior, flight, sounds, and mystery,” said Janis Dickinson, Director of Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
People of all ages and experience levels are invited to take part wherever they are—at home, in schoolyards, at local parks or wildlife refuges, even counting birds on a balcony. Observers count the highest number of each species they see during at least 15 minutes on one or more of the count days. Then they enter their tallies on the Great Backyard Bird Count web site www.birdcount.org.
The web site provides helpful hints for identifying birds. Participants can compare results from their town or region with others, as checklists pour in from throughout the U.S. and Canada. They can also view bird photos taken by participants during the count and send in their own digital images for the online photo gallery and contest.
“Literally, there has never been a more detailed snapshot of a continental bird-distribution profile in history,” said John Fitzpatrick, Director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Imagine scientists 250 years from now being able to compare these data with their own!”
Already, the count results show how the numbers of some birds species have changed in recent years.
For more information on how to participate, including identification tips, photos, bird sounds, maps, and information on over 500 bird species, visit www.birdcount.org.
