The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes. It’s free, fun, and easy.

Participants count birds anywhere for as little or as long as they wish during the four-day period. They tally the highest number of birds of each species seen together at any one time. To report their counts, they fill out an online checklist at the Great Backyard Bird Count web site.

In just four days this February, participants in the Great Backyard Bird Count submitted 81,203 total checklists, about a one third increase in the number of checklists submitted in 2006. This year, GBBC participants reported observing 11,082,387 birds and 631 bird species. They broke the record for the most checklists submitted in an hour with 1,944 checklists, and submitted over 4,000 bird photos.

This year, the American Robin was the most commonly observed species, with over 2 million sightings. The rarest birds of 2007 were the five Lesser Prairie-Chickens seen in Oklahoma, and the two Pink-footed Geese spotted in Rhode Island. This was one of the most comprehensive bird-distribution profiles ever produced, giving analysts a wealth of ornithological data from across the U.S. and Canada. The 2008 GBBC will be held February 15-18.

If this sounds like something you would like to do or you are simply interested in knowing more about the project, why not take a look to see what it's all about?

Visit the Great Backyard Bird Count web site.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, with sponsorship from Wild Birds Unlimited.