It’s time to gear up for the Great Backyard Bird Count, which you can participate in anywhere, anytime from February 14 thru 17 (Western Bluebird by Bob Walker). You can report the birds you see at your feeding station, in your yard, and anywhere you find birds during President’s Day Weekend (Purple Finch by Paul Konrad).

Connect to birds, nature, and each other during the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) anywhere, anytime from February 14 to 17. Aside from what the name suggests, the GBBC is no longer limited to identifying and counting birds in your yard – you can pick any locations to participate for any amount of time you want to continue birding. It’s great fun to join the GBBC action, which now takes place around the world, and you can report the birds you see at your feeding station, in your yard, and anywhere you find birds during President’s Day Weekend.

While the dates might be a month away, it’s a good idea to plan ahead, just in case you want to plan a Count party, organize a local event, or plan a holiday weekend trip with some birding on the agenda. This annual birding event is the first of the new year, and along with the Global Big Day in May, the October Big Day, and Christmas Bird Count, it provides an opportunity for birders to report what birds are found around the world during mid-February – it’s a late winter window into birds on a global scale.

Last year 642,003 birders around the world turned out in a big way to share their joy of birds, with participants from 210 countries reporting the locations where 7,920 of the world’s bird species were observed! Birders also planned at least 385 community events during the GBBC, plus we shared 164,740 photos, videos, and sound recordings attached to the GBBC eBird reports, which numbered 384,416 overall.

During the 4-day GBBC event, you can make bird counts at any number of locations, or a single site – once or a number of times. Each observation period should last at least 15 minutes and continue as long as you want to be birding. During each observation period, you simply identify and count each bird you see or hear, note the time you started and ended, plus your location; then report the information via eBird.

Another reason for planning ahead is to consider what you can do to make an improvement or 2 to your feeding station and your yard’s landscape to attract the greatest variety of birds to your yard during mid-February. Certainly, you will want to make at least one count in your yard, or even one each day of the GBBC. Incidentally, if you already make periodic reports of the birds you see to eBird, any reports you make during the 4-day GBBC will be credited to the event automatically.

Sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon, Birds Canada, and Wild Birds Unlimited, you can participate on your own or organize a group of friends for one of your GBBC birding activities. To learn more about how you can participate in the GBBC, and how you can make the most of the event’s opportunities for you, see Great Backyard Bird Count – Join us each February when the world comes together to watch, learn about, count, and celebrate birds.

Share your backyard birding experiences and photographs with The Birding Wire at editorstbw2@gmail.com