The Audubon Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) runs from Feb 14-17, 2025, which is an unique opportunity to get the family involved in this popular hobby to record bird sightings. This international annual Bird Count unites the world in connecting to birds and has expanded every year involving more and more people across the globe.

A Global Event

An event that engages bird watchers of all ages creates a real-time snapshot of bird populations. An activity for kids or adults, 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.

Anyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from beginning bird watchers to experts, and you can participate from your backyard, or anywhere in the world. Sounds easy… and no stress? Just count your bird sightings for 15 minutes and you have contributed to the backyard bird statistics that scientist use for their research. In total, 642,003 bird counters sent in results in 2024!

Here is a screen shot from Birdcount.org of how the numbers of bird counters have increased over the years. Using aps like Merlin Bird ID and other eMobile apps, it has gotten easier to identify what birds come to our feeders. Results even came in from Antarctica!

Helping out in Citizen Science or becoming a Global Citizen is trendy now for good reason. People feel empowered when they can contribute to the data base that scientists from all over the world can use in their studies of bird migrations. And what better research than backyard bird behaviors and numbers? This part of the natural world is very visible and of interest to many people, and gets kids engaged in the natural world.

But how about if you want to see what other people have reported seeing in your neck of the woods? It is easy to see what your neighbors and other local people have reported by going to EBird to see what your local results are. Just search by your state and county to see what others have seen and reported. Lots of photos have been uploaded too so you can review those as well.

Observe and Count Birds that Visit Your Feeders

We are a nation of ‘bird feeders’! More than 52 million Americans feed wild birds or other wildlife around their homes according to The Bird Watching Daily.  Some statistics:  “Two-thirds are women, and nearly 60 percent were between the ages of 45 and 64. On average, participants had been feeding birds for 18 years”. Wanting to bring nature, therapy, education, and beauty to their backyard, many bird feeders are passionate about birds and spend big bucks on this multi-million industry. Suet, nectar feeding, bird feeders, houses, and baths can be added to this list along with the more mundane birdseed. For my suet recipe, go to Suet for the Birds.

Another important fact on The Bird Watching Daily: “Participation in the wild-bird-feeding hobby” they write, “may be an excellent catalyst for engagement in greater levels of outdoor recreation and greater stewardship of the natural world.” Amen! We need more outdoor appreciation and engagement of our natural world in this digital age.

How to Count 

• Count birds anywhere you want. Inside, observing your bird feeder, or outside on a hike for at least 15 minutes. Keep track of the numbers and species and the time length.
• Make an estimate of how many birds you saw of each species. Flocks of birds are tough, but use your best guess.
• Enter your list online at BirdCount.0rg, after first establishing an account. You can start recording your bird sightings at midnight local time on the first day of the count from anywhere in the world.

• When you enter your information, you will see a list of birds that could be in your area in February. If the bird you see is unusual, there is a checklist of “rare species” that you can use. Compiled by local bird experts, bird lists should be comprehensive. But if you enter a species of an unusual bird, you get a message asking you to confirm the report and another check box will come up.

  

  All of these unusual sightings go to a volunteer in the area who reviews these reports and who might even contact you to get more details. Adding photos is especially important for unusual species.

Why?

Bird populations are always shifting and changing and in 2014, Snowy Owl sightings spiked in the northeast and mid-Atlantic, which were recorded on the GBBC. Like a bellwether, climate changes such as warming weather also shows up in these bird counts. More southerly birds are migrating further north, or birds are changing their routes, shortening or completely cancelling their journey as a result of changing temperatures.

Some birds, such as winter finches, appear in large numbers during some years but not other species. Scientists can learn from the different patterns exhibited from year to year.

It is always interesting to look at the results. The United States, India, and Canada placed first, second, and third with the most submissions.  And countries across the board had increases in participation and especially big increases in Central and South America, along with countries in Africa. GBBC participants shared 164,740 media uploads to the Macaulay Library at Cornell, a scientific archive for research, education,  and conservation.

There is an interactive community map on the bird count website and I plugged in my state and county and it came up with a local event at Cromwell Valley Park in Baltimore County this Sunday, from 9AM to 12 PM, called ‘Birds and Bagels’ where you can join a group participating in the bird count while munching on a bagel.

I was especially interested in what others spotted in my area, here in Maryland, and if you go to Explore local results, you can see what was reported in your neck of the woods.

Get your binoculars and start counting!