I just want to second what Claire posted here! I just posted info about the GBBC on the forum where I "normally" post, the Rocky Mountain Gardening forum, and I'll add it here since it has a couple links with additional info!

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Just want to let you all know that it's time for another Great Backyard Bird Count! It starts this Friday, Feb 15 and goes for four days, thru Monday, Feb 18. If you want to participate, all you need to do is keep track of what birds you see for at least 15 minutes on any one of those days--or for 10 hours a day on all of those days!--it's up to you--and then report what you've seen on the GBBC site to have them included in the worldwide bird count. You can count in your own backyard--which is what I do--or you can go to any location you want to to do your counting--it might be a nice day for a hike around your nearest reservoir or a walk at your local park! It helps the birds by showing which birds are where, how migration patterns change over time, and which species might be increasing--or declining. In this age of global warming it helps the people who help the birds to know what's going on!

Below are links to the email I got about this year's count, and the FAQs page about the bird count. If you don't "normally" watch and identify birds, you can print out a list of the birds most likely to be seen in your area, and there's plenty of identification info to help you!

I hope some of you will decide to participate this year,

Skybird

https://mailchi.mp/cornell/ngu4k6sy7x?e=cb6f4a5944

http://gbbc.birdcount.org/help-faqs/