Great Backyard Bird Count

There's a great opportunity to take part in citizen science this weekend.  The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is from Friday, 17 February through Monday, 20 February.  You don't need a backyard; a park, street, school, etc. are just fine for watching birds.  Just follow these steps:
1.  Watch birds somewhere for at least 15 minutes and write down the largest amount of each species that you see.  (Need help with bird ID?  Try www.allaboutbirds.org, where you can browse species by shape and name.)
2.  Go to www.birdsource.org to enter your count.
By doing this, you contribute to the data pool about birds.  How are they being affected by disease and food availability?  Are there changes in your local bird populations?  Are certain populations declining and need help?  This data can help scientists - who can't be everywhere at once - to answer questions like these.

You can also explore data sets.  The pine siskin is a bird that is not usually found in New Jersey, but will come down this far south during an irruption year, when its usual seed crop in Canada fails.  The following two maps show pine siskins reported through the GBBC during an irruption year, and then a normal year.

It's also interesting to see all the different geographic boundaries of bird species.  Consider four types of chickadees, as shown in the following four maps.

The best part about this data is that it would not be possible without all the citizen scientists...and that it really can help the birds.  Besides, who wouldn't want to watch a cute tufted titmouse like this?
(Google images)