Great Backyard Bird Count takes flight Feb. 16

Read the full story by Pat Leonard in the Cornell Chronicle.

Birders, it’s that time of year: stand up and begin counting.

The 27th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) will run Feb. 16 through Feb. 19.

An estimated half-million people participated in last year’s event and reported seeing more than 7,500 species of birds from 200-plus countries.

“The GBBC gets bigger every year, and that’s such a positive thing,” said David Bonter, co-director of the Center for Engagement in Science and Nature at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “It’s well-established that time spent in nature is good for us. We also would not be able to track the long-term changes in bird populations without the eyes and ears of all our enthusiastic participants. The world is changing fast, and birds often reflect the impact of environmental change first.”