View area storm coverage and share your photos.

Backyard bird count

Tim Eisele
Special to The Capital Times  —  2/13/2008 1:02 pm

Eleven million birds and 613 species. That is what observers throughout the nation reported last year during the Annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC).

The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology's 11th Annual GBBC takes place February 15 through 18, providing a good excuse to watch birds and to help by counting birds.

Participants merely need to watch and count birds for as little as 15 minutes or more for any day of the event. People count birds in their yards, city parks, nature centers, or wherever they would like, then enter the highest number of each species seen at one time on the GBBC Web site.

The event gets bird watchers of all ages involved in counting birds to create a snapshot of where birds are across the continent. It is free, fun and easy.

"The main purpose is to uncover broad-scale trends in bird populations and distribution across the North American continent," said Pat Leonard, spokesperson for GBBC. "The only way to amass that data over a four-day period, covering such a huge geographical area, is to employ the eyes and ears of bird watchers everywhere."

Some of the trends the count has shown are:

** The number of states reporting tree swallows increased from 14 in 2000 to 22 in 2007. This species is inching northward to New York State and British Columbia, and increasing in numbers in Oregon and Washington. By watching data on these birds in the years to come it may be possible to tell if warmer temperatures are causing more of these birds to remain north.

** One of the most marked trends is the spread of the Eurasian collared-dove, an invasive species. In 1999, eight southeastern states recorded the species and that increased to 34 states in 2007. GBBC participants report this species from Washington, California, and Saskatchewan. New states in 2007 included Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Indiana. This species is clearly an aggressive colonizer.

** GBBC reports of American crows have declined, coincident with the spread of West Nile virus (first documented in New York in 1999). Until 2002, crows always ranked fourth or fifth as the most frequently reported bird in the GBBC. Since 2003, the species has only ranked ninth or tenth. Between 2003 and 2006, the overall number of American crows reported to the GBBC dropped by 35 percent.

This is a particularly big "irruption" year, meaning northern states should see increased numbers of northern winter finches, such as common repolls, pine siskins, pine grosbeaks, and the red-breasted nuthatch, coming farther south due to cold weather and snow.

Wisconsinites participate each year, and last year GBBC received 1,420 checklists from Wisconsin, a record high for the state in the 10-year history of the count. Wisconsin participants reported a total of 122 species last year, with the black-capped chickadee appearing on the most checklists.

In terms of sheer numbers of individual birds, the Canada goose came in at the top in Wisconsin, followed by the American goldfinch.

Leonard suggests that if an observer is not sure of a particular species, he or she does not have to report it, but instead just check a box on the online data form that says they are NOT reporting every species they saw. It is better to do that than enter erroneous information.

"The one thing we need to keep stressing is that people only report the highest number of any species they see at one time," Leonard said. "If they watch for 20 minutes, say, and during that time they see 2 cardinals, then 6 cardinals, and later 4 cardinals--the number they actually report is six. They should NOT add the numbers together because they will likely be counting the same birds twice."

Leonard hopes that lots of Wisconsin birders will participate in GBBC this year.

"I sometimes think of each report as a 'pixel' and the more pixels we get the sharper the picture we will get about where the birds are and in what numbers during this brief period of late winter, before the spring migrations begin," she said.

People can also send in photos of birds they see and enter them in a contest. This year GBBC is soliciting video of birds and bird watchers--asking people to post to YouTube and tag the video "Great Backyard Bird Count." Some of the best videos will be posted on the GBBC Web site.

For information and to participate, go online at www.birdcount.org.

Tim Eisele
Special to The Capital Times  —  2/13/2008 1:02 pm