The Great Backyard Bird Count 2023
The Great Backyard Bird Count 2023
Each February, for four days, the world comes together for the love of birds. Over these four days we invite people to spend time in their favorite places watching and counting as many birds as they can find and reporting them to us. These observations help scientists better understand global bird populations before one of their annual migrations.
Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the Great Backyard Bird Count was the first online citizen-science project to collect data on wild birds and to display results in near real time. Birds Canada joined the project in 2009 to provide an expanded capacity to support participation in Canada. In 2013, we became a global project when we began entering data into eBird, the world’s largest biodiversity-related citizen science (community science) project.
How to Participate:
Participating is easy, fun to do alone or with others, and can be done anywhere you find birds. Bird count sheets can be picked up in the Lodge Lobby as well as our Campground Store or you can download one HERE
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
*If you need help identifying species, check out these 2 field guides:
Watch the video below to learn more about the count.
