Asheville – Many people have bird feeder in their backyard and find watching birds to be a great treat with unexpected surprises. Look quickly, do you know what kind of bird that is at your feeder? Is it a male Northern cardinal, a black-capped chickadee, an Eastern bluebird, an American goldfinch, a pileated woodpecker? Where are the binoculars; where is the bird book? Each February for four days, birdwatchers around the world comes together to help scientists better understand global bird populations. A Great Backyard Bird Count is held. The data is collected globally and sent in for a final count.
This coming weekend, from Friday, February 16th through Monday, the 19th, all over the world, observers will be reporting their data on wild birds as part of the Great Backyard Bird Count—from Australia to India to Canada to the United States, all across the globe. Participants are asked to count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the four-day event and report their sightings online at birdcount.org. This will be the 27th year of the annual GBBC. The site https://www.birdcount.org/participate/ offers suggestions with identification through their Webinars. If you are a beginner and new to bird identification, they suggest using the Merlin Bird ID app, or enter your bird list on the eBird website (desktop/laptop).
The organizers of the Great Backyard Bird Count prefer that you simply watch in your own favorite bird watching place, so more information will be received—and not all from large parks and birding areas with a group of birders. They ask you to spend 15 minutes noticing the birds around you. Identify them, count them, and submit them to help scientists better understand and protect birds. This count is held in February before migration starts, which changes everything. Western North Carolina is home to many migratory bird species, such as warblers, tanagers, sparrows, and hummingbirds. Therefore, for better count accuracy the Great Outdoor Bird Count takes place in February, before most migrations start.
Launched in 1998 by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, then joined by the National Audubon Society, the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) started collecting data. Birds Canada joined the project in 2009. This became a global project in 2013. Wild Birds Unlimited, with three stores in this area, is a major sponsor of the GBBC: “Participating in GBBC is now more important than ever, because birds need our help. Our partners at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, in collaboration with other researchers, recently published a study which determined that the skies over North America are home to nearly three billion fewer birds than in 1970. That means almost 1 out of every 4 birds have disappeared from our lives over the past 50 years.”
Overall results of GBBC turned in through March 10, 2022 were:
7,099 species of birds identified
192 participating countries
359,479 eBird checklists
298,208 Merlin Bird IDs
141,990 photos added to Macaulay Library
384,641 estimated global participants
According to the latest data from BirdLife International, South America is home to a total of 3,557 bird species, or almost one-third (31.8%) of all species in the world, as of October 2023. There are 2,059 bird species in the continent of North America, according to data from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This number is also supported by the National Audubon Society.
Local Birding Organizations
There are many birding organizations here. Blue Ridge Audubon Society (formerly the Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society) is a chapter of the National Audubon Society, serving Buncombe, Henderson, and surrounding counties in the mountains of western North Carolina. They own and manage a wildlife sanctuary, the Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary, and host monthly bird walks on Saturday mornings. Membership in the Blue Ridge Audubon Chapter includes membership in the National Audubon Society. For more information, just go to blueridgeaudubon.org
The Carolina Bird Club is a non-profit organization in North and South Carolina to promote the bird community through its website, publications, meetings, trips, and partnerships. Membership is open to anyone interested in the study of wildlife, particularly birds. The Club meets in winter, spring, and fall at different locations in the Carolinas. Go to https://www.carolinabirdclub.org for more information.
An organization with numerous local day trips, as well as exciting international trips, is Ventures Birding Tours. On Saturday, February 24th, 2024, Mike Resch is planning a day trip to Lake Conestee Nature Preserve in Greenville, SC. The group will meet at the Cracker Barrel in Hendersonville and drive to Lake Conestee. The cost is $60. Many other tours with knowledgeable guides are available in the coming year to exotic destinations, such as Ecuador, Ireland, Malaysia, Texas and the Great Lakes. For more information go to birdventures.com, or call 828 333-7288.