By Rick Newton and Beth Sullivan
Brrr... it's been cold outside....
very cold. It is probably keeping some of us from getting outside,
or hitting the trails as often as we'd like, to enjoy nature. While
we wait for the migrants to return, and the osprey to show up at
their nests, we can still enjoy the birds of winter and actually
enhance our understanding of our avian friends through Citizen
Science projects. Participating might even make these last weeks of
winter just a bit more bearable.
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| Male Northern Cardinal |
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| Female Northern Cardinal |
The Great Backyard Bird Count
This is an annual four-day event
taking place this year on February 14 - 17. This is the 17th annual
count, and last year about 134,000 people submitted lists of their
observations.
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| This Sharped Shinned Hawk is also watching the backyard birds. |
You can
participate from anywhere, from inside your home or the warmth of
your car, as long as you do at least 15 minutes of observation.
Most people enjoy watching the birds at their feeders. The only
other requirement is simply counting the number of each species of
bird you see over that specified time period. By counting in the
same place at the same time over years, you can create your own yard
list and compare your lists from year to year. There are a number
of “most commonly expected” yard birds as shown here and included
in last week’s blog. But always be alert to surprises, like turkeys
or even hawks! If you expand your range, you will be surprised at
the great variety of birds you can find in a short period!
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| A Carolina Wren enjoying a suet feeder. |
You may be thinking that submitting
data for only 15 minutes of observation really doesn't matter - but
it does. The data are gathered from tens of thousands of volunteers
all over the world and can create a snapshot in time of species,
distributions and populations. You may remember the Christmas Bird
Count we discussed at the beginning of January. This is less
intensive, much easier to do, but offers insight into changes in
populations over time that may be correlated to weather trends and
other environmental concerns.
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| A male House Finch is cracking open sunflower seeds from a backyard feeder. |
It is pretty simple to participate.
For details it is fun to peek around the Great Backyard Bird Count
website. It will give you specifics about how to count your birds and
more importantly how to submit your lists. Then you can spend more
winter days exploring the data and maps and see how the trends are
analyzed.
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| Song Sparrows are common in south-eastern Connecticut. |
Binoculars are helpful, and a good
field guide is pretty essential, especially when sorting out little
brown sparrows! Sibley, Audubon, Peterson and National Geographic
all have inexpensive and very useful guides.
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| Goldfinch in dull winter plumage. |
Once you get started, you might just
get hooked. In that case there is Project Feeder Watch and the ebird
community of bird enthusiasts. These are also all on-line.
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| Tufted Titmouse |
Go to the following website to get
psyched!
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| Juncos come south for the winter and summer in Canada. |
Yardmap
And..if you decide you really are
hooked, you can plan an enhanced habitat for the birds you will count
next year with the Yardmap software!
Yardmap is a free mapping project
designed to "cultivate a richer understanding of bird habitat".
Essentially, it is making a map of your yard or other location
using the on-line tools at their website. There are lots of tips to
make your yard more bird friendly. You can learn about your local
EcoRegion and view lists of native plants, native plant nurseries and
seed companies and community gardens that are nearby.
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| Red-Bellied Woodpecker. |
So as winter still grabs at us, and
keeps us from easy hiking, think how you and your family can become
more involved in understanding the birds we share our world with and
become Citizen Scientists!
Other Citizen Science projects can
be found in this article:
Photographs by Beth Sullivan and
Rick Newton.
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