Count Birds--Get Prizes

Fulltimers are sometimes asked: What do you do with all that time to keep from going bats? Forget the bats--some RVers say it’s for the birds. If bird watching is on your hit list, then don’t miss out on the annual "Backyard Bird Count."


Every year the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audobon Society team up to get people out and do a feathered census count. Now in its 10th year, the event will help scientists to see how environmental changes--say urban sprawl and global warming--are affecting our feathered friends. Last year counters tallied up over seven and a half million birds of 622 species. That’s no chicken scratching.


This year participants who send in a birding checklist will be entered in a drawing for some prizes worth squawking about. From birding binoculars to memberships in the Audobon Society (including that nifty "Audobon Magazine," with bird books of all sorts along the way.
So how do you get involved? The great bird count runs from February 16 to 19th in a backyard (forest, swamp, RV park, desert, et al) near you. Sink your talons into the official bird count website at http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/. Hurry up or you won’t beak (er, beat) the deadline.