Great Backyard Bird Count Results at MOSI Outside

This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon Society. Like the more famous Christmas Bird Count, the GBBC uses the reports of citizen scientists to help monitor bird numbers and populations. Unlike the Christmas Bird Count, though, the GBBC doesn't require birders to register sites in advance, join a larger group, or do anything more complicated than find a place to watch birds and start counting!

MOSI Outside participated this morning by spending about 30 minutes braving the damp chilly temperatures counting birds in at our feeder, in the live oaks nearby, and around the Historic Tree Grove and Back Woods Nature Preserve. While the numbers weren't as spectacular as they sometimes are (perhaps due to this very chilly and rainy weather), we still spotted quite a few birds. Here's our count:

Tufted Titmouse

• Eurasian Collared Dove (2)
• Northern Cardinal (5)
• Tufted Titmouse (3)
• Blue Jay (3)
• Northern Mockingbird (6)
• Muscovy Duck (2)
• Carolina Wren (1)
• Wood Stork (1)
• Downy Woodpecker (2)
• Red-Bellied Woodpecker (3)
• Ring Billed Gull (3)

If you'd like to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count, you can do so today through Monday (Feb. 15 - 18). For the first time this year, the GBBC is open to folks from around the entire world - and it's free! All you need to do is count birds for at least 15 minutes one day this weekend and then report your results to the Great Backyard Bird Count website. If you do participate locally, we'd love to hear your own count totals - drop by the comments below and share!