Calling all birders! Every Christmas season Callaway Gardens® participates in The National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count Program.
Volunteer birders are needed to assist with the Callaway Gardens count on Saturday, January 2, 2010. Some participants simply watch feeders from the comfort of their home, while others walk and drive through different portions of the count area to census the bird populations.
Last year between December 14 and January 5, Audubon’s official “count period,” more than 59,000 volunteers around the world participated in more than 2,100 bird counts. Apart from its attraction as a social, sporting and competitive event, the Christmas Bird Count reveals key scientific information about the winter distribution of resident and migratory birds across the Western Hemisphere.
Each count has a designated circle measuring 15 miles in diameter. All the birds seen or heard during the 24-hour (midnight to midnight) count day are tallied by birders. The center of the Callaway Gardens Count circle is near the Mountain Creek® Inn at Callaway Gardens, so the census area encompasses all 13,000 acres of Callaway Gardens, as well as the FDR State Park and a large portion of Harris County. The National Audubon Society charges each participant a $5 fee to help offset the cost of data processing. Preregistration for the Christmas Bird Count is required by December 18, 2009. To volunteer for this exciting event, call the Preserve at Callaway Gardens at (706) 663-6745 or email ccroft@callawaygardens.com .
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Showing posts with label bird counts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bird counts. Show all posts
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Massive Great Backyard Bird Count Just Weeks Away
The continent-wide Great Backyard Bird Count returns for its 12th season Feb. 13-16. The National Audubon Society, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division invite Georgians to join this event that spans North America.
Wildlife biologist Todd Schneider of the Wildlife Resources Division said there is value for scientists in the data gathered and trends reported. But what he prizes is participants paying closer attention to birds and raising their awareness of these amazing creatures.
“The best part is the educational value,” Schneider said.
All eyes are needed and all birds count, whether spotted from backyards or high-rise balconies, at city parks or state-owned natural areas.
In 2008, Georgia ranked eighth in checklists (3,135) and fifth in species (221), as watchers logged an estimated 235,772 birds. Across North America, more than 9.8 million birds and 635 species were reported via 85,725 checklists, the fourth straight year of record checklist totals. The species most frequently reported? The northern cardinal. Savannah reported the second-most species seen per city, with 166.
In the Great Backyard Bird Count, birders of all skill levels contribute data to monitoring that is considered an important component of bird conservation efforts. The count is also a gateway into citizen science programs such as Project Feeder Watch, Christmas Bird Counts and the Breeding Bird Survey. These counts can trigger a lifelong passion for birds.
During the four-day event, participants tally birds for as little as 15 minutes or as long as they like on one or more days. People enter their numbers online at www.birdcount.org, where they can explore sightings maps, lists and charts as the count progresses. The Web site includes tips to help identify birds and resources for teachers. Photos also can be submitted to an online gallery, and bird videos uploaded to a YouTube site.
For more than a decade, the Great Backyard Bird Count has kept tabs on the changing patterns of birds in winter. Last year’s reports included 12 species new to the survey, underscored declines documented by other sources for common birds such as northern bobwhites and eastern meadowlarks, and marked at least 21 species including peach-faced lovebirds and black-hooded parakeets that are not on official North American bird lists.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology Director John Fitzpatrick said that with 11 years of data, the count “has documented the fine-grained details of late-winter bird distributions better than any project in history, including some truly striking changes just over the past decade.”
The Great Backyard Bird Count is a free event sponsored in part by Wild Birds Unlimited. Visit www.birdcount.org for a free 2009 poster and details on promoting the count locally.
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www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Wildlife biologist Todd Schneider of the Wildlife Resources Division said there is value for scientists in the data gathered and trends reported. But what he prizes is participants paying closer attention to birds and raising their awareness of these amazing creatures.
“The best part is the educational value,” Schneider said.
All eyes are needed and all birds count, whether spotted from backyards or high-rise balconies, at city parks or state-owned natural areas.
In 2008, Georgia ranked eighth in checklists (3,135) and fifth in species (221), as watchers logged an estimated 235,772 birds. Across North America, more than 9.8 million birds and 635 species were reported via 85,725 checklists, the fourth straight year of record checklist totals. The species most frequently reported? The northern cardinal. Savannah reported the second-most species seen per city, with 166.
In the Great Backyard Bird Count, birders of all skill levels contribute data to monitoring that is considered an important component of bird conservation efforts. The count is also a gateway into citizen science programs such as Project Feeder Watch, Christmas Bird Counts and the Breeding Bird Survey. These counts can trigger a lifelong passion for birds.
During the four-day event, participants tally birds for as little as 15 minutes or as long as they like on one or more days. People enter their numbers online at www.birdcount.org, where they can explore sightings maps, lists and charts as the count progresses. The Web site includes tips to help identify birds and resources for teachers. Photos also can be submitted to an online gallery, and bird videos uploaded to a YouTube site.
For more than a decade, the Great Backyard Bird Count has kept tabs on the changing patterns of birds in winter. Last year’s reports included 12 species new to the survey, underscored declines documented by other sources for common birds such as northern bobwhites and eastern meadowlarks, and marked at least 21 species including peach-faced lovebirds and black-hooded parakeets that are not on official North American bird lists.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology Director John Fitzpatrick said that with 11 years of data, the count “has documented the fine-grained details of late-winter bird distributions better than any project in history, including some truly striking changes just over the past decade.”
The Great Backyard Bird Count is a free event sponsored in part by Wild Birds Unlimited. Visit www.birdcount.org for a free 2009 poster and details on promoting the count locally.
-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
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