Instead of counting the number of couples you see on Valentine’s Day, count the number of actual lovebirds – and any other birds you see for that matter.
The 18th annual Great Backyard Bird Count is scheduled from Feb. 13-16. Volunteers around the world are asked to count birds for at least 15 minutes on at least one of the days. Then, once done counting, participants are asked to enter their sightings into the website here.
The information gathered from the thousands of bird watchers world-wide helps track bird populations and patterns.
In 2014, volunteers from 135 countries counted, documenting nearly 4,300 species on more than 144,000 checklists – about 43 percent of all the species in the world.
The top five countries with participants, in no particular order, were the U.S., Canada, India, Australia and Mexico.
“We especially want to encourage people to share their love of birds and bird watching with someone new this year,” said Dick Cannings at Bird Studies Canada. “Take your sweetheart, a child, a neighbor, or a coworker with you while you count birds for the GBBC. Share your passion and you may fledge a brand new bird watcher.”
To learn more about how to join the count, download instructions and other materials, click here.
From the Great Backyard Bird Count