In mid-February around the world, bird enthusiasts and citizen scientists gather for one simple, but important purpose: to count birds. The Great Backyard Bird Count, or GBBC, runs each year from February 16 – 19th to encourage individuals to take stock of the birds living in their community. It’s super easy to register, and your count contributes to valuable citizen science data from around the world. Run through a partnership between Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon, and Bird Studies Canada, the GBBC is a fun citizen science educational tool, enabling learners of all ages to learn about birds and the nature near them. 

To participate, visit www.birdcount.org and consider downloading the app there for your phone. And, if English isn’t your first language, ebird, the data collection tool, is translated into 10 different languages. You can also see real time counts around the globe, and view a summary report in the weeks after the count happens. Birds can provide very valuable data about our environment, and the GBBC is a fun way to help contribute and be part of a global initiative.