Contests & Special Counts

Great Backyard Bird CountPosted 4/18/17

This past February 17 – 20th was the first time I ever participated in the great backyard bird count. I found out about it through my membership in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and I enjoyed counting and sending in my checklists. People participate from all around the world and it was the biggest count in its twenty year history. Bird watchers set a new high for number of checklists submitted and total number of species reported. There were many long time contributors as well as first timers, like myself.  I reported thirteen species that I saw in my backyard. The estimated participants as of 3/3/2017 were 214,018. Species reported were 5,940 and 173,826 completed checklists submitted worldwide.

One hundred and forty-four countries participated by sending in checklists and species counts. United States was the top reporter with 113,117 checklists; Canada was next with 14,908 followed by India with 11,008 checklists. We can be proud that our state was the top reporter in the U.S. with 7,191 checklists and 181 species.

The top ten birds reported were as follows (from highest to lowest): cardinal, American crow, mourning dove, dark eyed junco, downy woodpecker, blue jay, black capped chickadee, house finch, house sparrow and white breasted nuthatch.

Next year’s date has been set for Feb. 16 through the 19th, 2018. Just go to BirdCount.org when the time comes to sign up and enjoy taking part in this worthwhile activity.

Pat Cocot
Warblings
, Spring 2017