The participants in the Bird Count must simply count every bird they see and then submit a checklist on the website.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – This year’s edition of the Backyard Bird Count kicks of this Friday and it will end on Monday, the 15th of February.
The Backyard Bird Count kicks off this Friday and it is the most popular science project for citizens in the world. The count starts on Friday, the 12th of February and it will end on Monday, the 15th of February.
The main objective of the project is for people to head out to the great outdoors and count all the birds that they encounter. The data that the participants collect will not go to waste as it will be used by scientists to track the number of birds of a certain species or even the health status of some of the birds.
In 2015, the number of participants was of tens of thousands and the data that they gathered proved to be immensely valuable. Plus it was a nice and pleasant way to convince people to grab some fresh air and enjoy nature’s winged performers.
The organizers are hoping that the turnout will be as big as last year, especially since the El Nino phenomenon was particularly strong and they are anxious for looking at the data to see how the meteorological imbalance affected the bird population.
Participation in the Bird Count is free, easy and fun. All you have to do is go to their website, create an account (which is free) and read the instructions provided on the page marked “Get Started”.
After doing so, you wait for the Count to kick off this Friday and go outside and count the number of birds belonging to different species that you manage to see in more than 15 minutes.
The website provides the list of birds that have been spotted in your general vicinity in the previous years alongside pictures and some information about the specific birds.
After you finish with your count that has to last for more than 15 minutes, you go back to the website and submit the information that you have gathered.
A single person can submit multiple entries in different locations throughout the 4 days of the Bird Count.
Participants can also take pictures of the birds that they encounter and submit them to the photo contest held by the Bird Count organizers.
Last year there were 147,265 checklists submitted by the Bird Count participants from more than 100 countries. A total of 5090 bird species were identified during the 2015 Bird Count.
The 2016 Backyard Bird Count kicks off this Friday and all you need to do is register freely on their website and go for a 15+ minutes stroll and make a note of any bird you encounter on your way.
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