The Great Backyard Bird Count Underway This Weekend
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The long Presidents Day weekend offers a chance to take part in a worldwide citizen science event: the Great Backyard Bird Count.
It will be held Friday through Monday.
Pennsylvania Audubon Program Manager for Urban Conservation Keith Russell says the Great Backyard Bird Count asks birders -- beginners to experts, of all ages -- to watch birds for as little as 15 minutes, or as long as you'd like, and report what you see.
"It gives us an opportunity to take a snapshot in the middle of the winter of where birds are distributed across the continent, and obviously, since it takes place all over the world, they're counting birds everywhere," said Russell.
The information, says Russell, "can be used to see how birds' distributions are changing and adjusting every year to climate change, to things like diseases, to interesting things that are going on in the weather, like El Nino, to development."
Besides providing valuable data, Russell says the Great Backyard Bird Count offers something else -- fun.
"There are people all over the world that are participating in this with you. And you're really helping to generate a powerful data set that can be very useful in understanding birds, and helping to conserve birds."
The GBBC was launched in 1998, a joint effort of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. There's a wealth of information on the website -- gbbc.birdcount.org -- including checklists, photos, and ID tips.
If you'd like some help, and company, with your counting, the Tookany Tacony-Frankford Watershed Project's holding a walk Monday morning, the 15th, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Meet at Tacony Creek Park, D Street and Roosevelt Boulevard.
For more information, visit: http://ttfwatershed.org/events/