International Birdwatchers Provide Bigger Numbers for "Great Backyard Bird Count"

The "Great Backyard Bird Count" began this past Friday and is coming to a conclusion at the end of today. Professional and novice birdwatchers of all ages across the globe participated in the event, which surveyed thousands of bird species worldwide.

Participants were asked to tally the number and kinds of birds in their area for at least 15 minutes for one day between Friday, February 14^th and Monday, February 17^th. Without any barriers for entry, the event draws over 100,000 participants each year. Checklists are submitted online to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Thus far, with statistics provided from the "Great Backyard Bird Count" website, there have been over 97,000 checklists submitted, over 3,700 bird species observed, and over 1.1 million individual birds counted. Participants logged checklists from every continent except Antarctica, with the most coming from North America. Checklists will be accepted until the end of today.

The information collected from this event will be used to document bird populations in different areas of the world, and through that information scientists will be able to identify climate changes and conditions due to bird migration. They will also be able to understand health and diet patterns in birds through their population numbers and areas of migration compared to last year's numbers.

The coordinators of the event believe this year will provide the biggest numbers because the Cornell bird count entry portal has been synced with eBird. eBird is one of the world's largest bird databases, and after a year of the two being combined for the purpose of the event, it is expected to be highly effective for producing results in 2014.

The Great Backyard Bird Count website has also provided birdwatchers with interesting and helpful strategies such as learning about birds and identifying different species. Participants were also able to track in real time the results that were submitted throughout the weekend. And if you're located in the western United States there's still some time to participate! Visit the GBBC website to get all the details if you want to take part in the 2014 event.