The seventh annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), a project developed and managed by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab or Ornithology, with sponsorship from Wild Birds Unlimited storeowners and the Natural Resources Conservation Project, takes place February 13-16, 2004. The Northern Neck Audubon Society (NNAS) invites all area bird enthusiasts to take part in this event.

The GBBC was developed to help monitor the abundance and distribution of birds in late winter, helping researchers to spot alarming trends before situations become critical. As we see rapid changes in our environment and shifts in species’ ranges, bird monitoring projects such as the GBBC become increasingly important.

Whether they spend a few minutes or several hours counting birds, GBBC participants will help determine the status of birds continent-wide. Last winter, participants across North America counted more than four million birds of 572 different species. The event documented regional declines of the American Crow that may be the result of West Nile virus in those regions. Other species showed increases during the 2003 count. Participants in the eastern United States counted more Dark-eyed Juncos than they had since 2000, possibly due to the snowstorm that hit the eastern seaboard during the weekend of the count, driving birds to feeders in higher numbers. That same snowstorm apparently held early migrants like the Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, and American Woodcock farther south, compared to previous years.

Participation is easy and requires only a basic knowledge of bird identification. Complete instructions can be found at www.birdsource.org/gbbc. All one needs to do is keep track of the highest number of individuals of each species observed on any one day at any one observation point (e.g., the backyard bird feeder), then submit the results online. As always, the GBBC web site also includes a vocabulary section, bird-watching and bird-feeding tips, bird vocalizations and more.