Great Back Yard Bird Count

If you love nature and the environment and would enjoy participating in a citizen-type data collection, why not particpate this year in the Great Back Yard Bird Count?

This annual event relies on people across the country to help the Audubon Society and Ornithology Lab at Cornell to count the types and species of birds they see in their back yard. The term 'back yard' can be applied to your neighborhood, nearby park, anyplace you can walk to if you want to go farther afield and see a wider variety of birds. For those of us living near the oceans and wetlands of Rhode Island, this opens up a lot more possibilities for bird watching and reporting.


If you go to the website for the GBBC, you will be walked through the process, provided with a checklist to fill out and submit online, be able to enter a photo contest, and after it is done, you can see the results.

It is a fabulous and fun thing to do with children. There is a special page for kids with games and activities. What a great way to get kids started on a love of nature and the environment!


All 50 states are represented. Why not help Rhode Island get on the Audubon map? You can spend as little as 15 minutes per day or up to as much time as you wish. The dates this year are February 13 - 16. See you at the bird count!


PS Bird watching in Rhode Island is excellent - you can choose a house near the woods or one with lots of trees, shrubs and the salt water estuaries provide herons, swans and egrets to admire, too.