Cornell’s Backyard Bird Count Starts Soon

The 17th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count conducted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, partnered with Bird Studies, Canada will take place February 14-17 and is expected to go global.

Anyone can participate by counting birds for at least 15 minutes on one or more days and recording the sightings online.

North America date will be used to calculate the number of Snowy Owls this winter and help show whether American Crows are coming back after populations were decimated by the West Nile Virus.

2013 was the first year the count went global and bird-watchers from over 100 countries are expected to participate this year.

The bird observations can be entered into the database at www.birdcount.org.