Researchers want your help to learn about the birds in your backyard this weekend.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Birds Canada and the National Audubon Society host the annual “Great Backyard Bird Count.” It’s a global event that encourages people to step outside and report what birds they see and hear.
Becca Rodomsky-Bish, the project leader at Cornell University, said it's a way for scientists to gather a large amount of data about bird populations — all while exposing people to the songs and colors of bird species. In the Midwest and Great Plains, that includes cardinals, blue jays and chickadees.
“Ultimately, we don't save and preserve what we don't love,” Rodomsky-Bish said. “And so, I find that birds are this really wonderful entry point for a lot of people to become awoken to the mysteries and wonders of the natural world.”
This year marks the 28th bird count. The four-day event starts on Friday.
Informing conservation
The count can tell researchers whether bird species are improving or holding steady. Organizers and scientists also want to know what participants are not seeing. That data tells them if species might be declining because of challenges such as habitat loss or climate change.
Jason St. Sauver, the senior education manager at the Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center outside of Lincoln, Nebraska, said that information is crucial for protecting bird species that rely on the region’s prairies.
“If we don't have space for birds and habitat, the numbers are going down,” St. Sauver said. “Prairie birds, especially in the Midwest and the upper Great Plains, have decreased exponentially over the years since like the 1970s.”
In recent years, researchers found that grassland bird populations across North America declined 53%, or by about 720 million birds.
Last year, more than half a million people took part in the bird count event. Kristen Heath-Acre, the state ornithologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation, said the data collected helps to inform their actions.
“It really tells us a lot about which birds are declining, where they are declining, which habitats are at most risk,” Heath-Acre said. “So we use those data all the time, and it's a really awesome way that birders can contribute to the animals that they love the most and that it doesn't take a lot of effort.”
The Great Backyard Bird Count is one of several annual counts that help researchers to better understand bird species. There’s also the National Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count and eBird’s Global Big Day count in May, along with many other local events.
Birding boom
Over the past few years, bird watching has become one of the fastest growing outdoor hobbies — with an estimated 96 million U.S. participants, as well $107.6 billion in spending related to birding in 2022, according to a recent report from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
For Allison Vaughn, a member of the Columbia Audubon Society in Missouri, it’s been heartening to see such growth. A long-time member, she moved to Columbia back in 2007, and had heard that the local group was struggling to recruit new members. Today, there’s no shortage of participants or local events.
“It’s been really encouraging,” Vaughn said.
As the hobby grows, and more people participate in these kinds of “citizen science” events, Vaughn said she feels hopeful for the future of bird species.
“To see the ancient pattern of nature continuing even today, with all of the destruction that we have in the world,” Vaughn said. “Knowing that birds are going to keep doing what they're doing, it shows a level of resiliency that I think is really powerful.”
The organizers of the Great Backyard Bird Count are asking participants to count birds at least once for 15 minutes and identify each species and site. This can be done in a backyard, at parks or any other outdoor location.
To keep track of birds, participants can use apps that are already integrated to the count, including the Merlin Bird ID app and the eBird Mobile app. People can also enter reports online.
This story was produced in partnership with Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest. It reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues.
