Attention birders! Pick up your binoculars and get ready to count! Friday, February 17 kicks off the 15th annual Great Backyard Bird Count. Hosted by National Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the count is geared to beginners and experienced birders alike.
The premise is simple: Look out your window (or head to your local park or outdoor area), count the species and numbers of birds you see for at least 15 minutes on any or all of the days of the count and enter the information online.
The 2011 GBBC brought in more than 92,000 bird checklists submitted by participants from across the United States and Canada. Altogether, bird watchers identified 596 species with 11.4 million bird observations. Phenomenal! Vermont contributed 662 checklists comprised of 82 species and 899 individual birds.
This year, as we have in the past, RCAS will hold its monthly monitoring walk around West Rutland Marsh to coincide with the Great Backyard Bird Count. Meet on Saturday, February 18 at 8 a.m. in the West Rutland Price Chopper parking lot. See you there!
Click here to see photos and explore all the results from last year.