Great Backyard Bird Count

February 16-19, 2007

Scientists and bird enthusiasts can learn a lot by knowing where the birds are and YOU can help with the Great Backyard Bird Count!

Everyone's contribution is important.  It doesn't matter whether you identify, count, and report the 5 species coming to your backyard feeder or the 75 species you see during a day's outing to one of our local parks.  Your bird count can help answer many questions about our bird population.  The data you collect will be combined with Christmas Bird Count and Project FeederWatch data for an immense picture of our winter bird population.  Each year that this information is collected and compiled makes the facts easier to interpret, and more meaningful.

Kenton County Parks & Recreation has helped promote the Great Backyard Bird Count since 1999.  The National Audubon Society and Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology sponsor the annual count.

In addition to the thousands of adult birders who have become involved during the past several years, the Great Backyard Bird Count has engaged hundreds of classes and youth groups, who have enjoyed participation (and putting their zip code on the map!) as they contributed valuable scientific data.

During the Great Backyard Bird Count, kids count!  There are many ways to involve kids and first-time participants, including observations in Behavior, Weather, Math, Art, and Journaling.  This year, GBBC people are making an even bigger effort to include and involve kids.  Check out their web site at http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/press/kids/gbbc-is-for-kids#howtogbbc.  There are cool sections, like The Birds You'll See, that features an online bird guide and a checklist of the birds you can hope to see in this region, you can take a video Bird Quiz, do a Bird Words seek puzzle, and you can print out and color six different birds.  And there's a lot more, too!  Take a look!

Here's how to participate in the Annual Great Backyard Bird Count:

• Count the birds in your backyard, local park, or other natural area on any or all of the four count days.  From one viewing spot, watch for at least 15 minutes.

• For each species, keep track of the greatest number of individual birds that you observe at any one time.  For example, if you see two Cardinals and then later see four Cardinals, the number you would record for Cardinals would be four, or the most Cardinals you observed at any one time.  (So you don't just count the same bird or birds again and again).

• If you count on different days, you must submit one checklist for each day.  Do not combine the number of Cardinals you saw in one viewing with the number you observed in a second viewing.  For each different day, record the highest number of each species seen at the same time.

See, it's easy!

For Kenton County birders, feeding stations have been established in two of the parks maintained by Kenton County.  Through generous donations of feeders from Bigg's, Cedar Works, Deaton's Nursery & Greenhouse, J.H. Fedders Feed Co., Home Depot, Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet, North States, Pilot Do-It Center, TMI, Tractor Supply, Inc., and Wal-Mart, there are a variety of feeders to watch.

There are Tubes, Hoppers, and Platforms for seedeaters, and there are feeders designed specifically for suet-eaters.  Each feeder has been identified with a small plaque that will indicate where that feeder can be purchased and by whom it was donated.

For those who cannot watch from their homes, KCP&R has installed feeding stations so you can watch from the comfort of your own vehicles!  In Banklick Woods Park, a station has been installed near the Public Works Administration office building, and in Middleton-Mills Park, there is a station located near the secondary entrance of the park (toward Marshall Road.)  A third feeding station has been installed on the KCP&R office property, just inside the Golf Courses of Kenton County.  Bring a small supply of seed when you visit, fill a feeder if it is empty, and get set for a visit from some feathery friends! You may be surprised how quickly birds appear.

The newest feeding station has been installed in the Meditation Garden at the Erlanger branch of the Kenton County Public Library.  What a wonderful place to watch the birds!  Check out a bird identification guide while you are there and discover the wonderful world of wild birds!

Download your checklists from the Great Backyard Bird Count web site at http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/checklist.

You may submit your observationsonline to the same address and enjoy the excitement of entering your personal sightings report data and watching the totals rise!