by Helen Deffenbacher
The 15th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) takes place on February 17-20 in towns all across the United States and Canada.
photo by Phil Swanson
It’s a fun, free, and educational event for people of all ages. And it’s easy. Here are the steps:
- Print a Tally Sheet of local birds to look for at the Great Backyard Bird Count Website For Kids: http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/checklist
- Watch and count birds in your backyard for at least 15 minutes on any day of the count, February 17-20, 2012
- Enter your results at www.birdcount.org where you can watch as the tallies grow across the continent. Over 10 million tallies have been made in past years’ GBBC events.
Besides being a lot of fun, the Great Backyard Bird Count also helps ornithologists, scientists who study birds:
“When thousands of people all tell us what they’re seeing, we can detect patterns in how birds are faring from year to year,” said Janis Dickinson, director of Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. ”
“The Great Backyard Bird Count is a perfect example of Citizen Science,” says Audubon Chief Scientist, Gary Langham. “Like Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count, volunteers help us with data year after year, providing scientific support that is the envy of many institutions. It’s also a lot of fun.”
“We’re finding that more people are taking part in our bird count programs every year–and the more that take part, the better it is for the birds,” says Richard Cannings, Senior Projects Officer for Bird Studies Canada.
Watch this video with your family to learn more about the Great Backyard Bird Count: www.birdsource.org/gbbc/GBBCvideo12
To download a poster and button, click on this web link:
www.birdsource.org/gbbc/press/news-stories/gbbc-posters-web-buttons
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Here are several more fun things you and your family can do to learn about birds and ways you can help conserve them:
* Put together a bird watching kit.
At a minimum, include a checklist and a field guide (see below). You and your family may want to add other things to it, such as: binoculars, a video or still camera, and a journal for notes, photographs and/or illustrations.
- “Binocular Basics” provides tips on choosing, using, and caring for your binoculars: www.birdsource.org/gbbc/learning/birdingtools
- Print a checklist of birds for your area at the Great Backyard Bird Count Website For Kids that was mentioned earlier: http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/checklist
- Birds of Nebraska Field Guide,by Stan Tekiela is available at Fontenelle Forest Nature Center’s Gift Shop, wild bird supply stores, and local bookstores.
Birds of Nebraska Field Guide
* Learn more about Nebraska birds at these two fantastic interactive websites:
The Nebraska Bird Library: www.nebraskabirdlibrary.org
This online library provides information and beautiful photographs on almost 450 bird species that can be found in Nebraska. You can search by bird color, size, area of the state, and habitat. Once you narrow your search, pages chock full of information are provided about that particular species, even including the bird’s song or call.
Project Beak
Project BEAK was created for kids in 5th through 8th grades, but Nebraskans of all ages enjoy using this website to learn about: Birds & People, Adaptations, Nebraska Habitats, The Rare Ones, and Birding Basics. (Teacher Resources are also available). You and your family and friends can play games together, take quizzes to test your knowledge of Nebraska birds, and watch videos: www.projectbeak.org
* Check out a book about bird conservationists from your school or neighborhood public library.
Here are three suggestions:
Audubon: Painter of Birds in the Wild Frontier,by Jennifer Armstrong, with illustrations by Jos. A. Smith. Grades K-4
Audubon: Painter of Birds
Saving Birds – Heroes Around the World, by Pete Salmansohn and Stephen W. Kress. Grades 4-7.
Saving Birds--Heroes Around the World
The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon, by
Jacqueline Davies and illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Grades K-4
Boy Who Drew Birds
* Tell your parents about Audubon’s interactive Healthy Yard website.
If they haven’t already done this, ask if you can help create a healthy yard for people, pets, birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife. Using natural ways to control insects, such as enticing predators to your yard, is one of the steps. Many bird species eat bugs or feed them to their young during the summer. The natural foods you provide in your yard will attract these bug eaters and other birds to your yard.
http://web4.audubon.org/bird/at_home/Healthy_Yard.html
* Plant a bird garden this spring
Native plants provide food and protective cover for birds and other wildlife all year round. It isn’t too early to start planning your bird garden, learning which native plants will attract birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife to your backyard, and deciding what additional things you would like to include in your garden, such as a pond or birdbath, logs, and one or more nest boxes (See: “How to build a nest box,” below).
Glenn Pollock, who lives in Omaha, is a longtime naturalist and prairie conservationist and a member of the Sierra Club. Below is a list of 12 native plants, among others, that he has planted in wildlife gardens and prairies.
The photographs are from Stock Seed Farms’ online catalog. Their store is located in Murdock, Nebraska. Each of these native wildflower seeds is $2.50 a packet: www.stockseed.com
Another company Glenn likes is Ion Exchange in Harpers Ferry, Iowa, which also sells a variety of native seeds you can order online: www.ionxchange.com
How to build a nest box
How to build a nestbox
From your research on Nebraska birds, you will learn which species use nest boxes. The most important thing you can do to attract birds to your yard is to provide an inviting habitat, not just a birdfeeder or nest box. Birds will choose a nest site based on the surrounding habitat.
On the following website, scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology discuss which birds use nest boxes and the general features of a good nest box. They also provide step-by-step instructions on how to build nest boxes for different bird species: www.birds.cornell.edu/nestinginfo/nestboxref/construct
To do even more gardening for wildlife:
For step-by-step instructions on creating a backyard wildlife habitat and getting it certified, visit the website of the National Wildlife Federation: www.nwf.org/gardenforwildlife
* Plan a family outing this spring to one or more places that have native seeds and plants.
Besides looking through seed catalogs, this is another fun way to learn about native Nebraska plants. You may want to visit a seed company, plant nursery, a public garden, or a prairie preserve that has native species. These are just a few of those places, among many others:
- Ion Exchange: 1878 Old Mission Drive, Harpers Ferry, Iowa: www.ionxchange.com
- Lauritzen Gardens, 100 Bancroft St., Omaha, NE 68108 When they’re in bloom, you can go and see “The Song of the Lark Meadow” and other native gardens to get ideas for your own bird garden: www.lauritzengardens.org
- Sawmill Hollow Family Farm: www.sawmillhollow.com The website has an email form to inquire about purchasing aronia berry (chokeberry) plants.
- Stock Seed Farms: 28008 Mill Road, Murdock, Nebraska: www.stockseed.com
Prairie Preserves
Allwine and T.L. Davis Prairie Preserves: www.unomaha.edu/prairie/app.php
Allwine Prairie Preserve
Tallgrass Prairies in Eastern Nebraska:
www.nebraskabirdingtrails.com/trail.asp?trail=16
Audubon Society of Omaha Prairie Preserve (formerly known as Jensen Prairie):
www.audubon-omaha.org/places.htm
Vincent Bluff: A Loess Hills Prairie Preserve in the Urban Heart of Council Bluffs, Iowa:
www.loesshps.org/Photos/Maps/slides/VincentBluffMapaerialcolor.php
Each month Sierra Club volunteer Helen Deffenbacher will write about a different project or projects you can do with your family and friends in your home, backyard, or community.
Individuals and members of organizations are also invited to write about one or more local green projects you are working on. Email your article to Helen Deffenbacher: hdeffenbacher@cox.net