Walking outdoors in nature or just looking out your window and observing birds is a great stress-reducer.  On February 17 through 20, 2017, you have a good excuse for gazing out the window:  you are a citizen scientist in the annual Great Backyard Bird Count!

The Great Backyard Bird Count was the first online citizen-science project to collect data on wild birds and to display results in near real-time.  You can see data and photos from last year’s GBBC on the webpage.

And you are counting me because…….?

More than 160,000 people of all ages and walks of life worldwide joined the four-day count last February.  The reason the count is conducted in February is to get a snapshot of the distribution and abundance of birds before annual migration begins in March.

Here’s how to participate:  For at least fifteen minutes on one or more days of the count, February 17-20, 2017, simply tally the numbers and kinds of birds you see.  You can count from any location, outdoors or just looking out your window, for as long as you wish!

UPDATE:  Here are the results of this year’s Great Backyard Bird Count, in which more than 200,000 people world-wide sent in their checklists!  The State of Washington ranked high among participants although bad weather in general on the West Coast reduced the number of participants slightly this year.