Great Backyard Bird Count

The GBBC is coming up quickly! Mark your calender for Feb. 15-18. I don't know how many of you take part in the GBBC but I think everyone should. I know there are a lot of different counts to participate in out there but this is one of the easier ones. The only commitment they want is for you to watch birds for a least 15 minutes between the dates of Feb. 15-18. and then report those findings to them. For a complete breakdown of how it works just follow this link http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/howto.html and you can get all the info.

This year, I decided to become a GBBC ambassador to help spread the word. Last year, Portland recorded 125 checklists and 85 species. I know that we, as a fairly decent sized birding community, can do a lot better than that! You can submit any amount of checklists that you want to. If you only want to submit one for you backyard, that's great. If you went to Sauvie's Island or Mt. tabor or where ever, you can submit checklists for those as well. Whatever you feel capable of doing, helps.

I know it's cliche but, Every Checklist Matters. It really does. So please, if you are interested, go to the above link or email me with any questions you might have. My door is always open (more cliche). Even if you don't have the time or inclination to enter the checklist yourself, email me your results and I will enter them on your behalf. Just let me know where you were, for how long were there and what you saw. If you have a little story or photo, send those along, too!

Portland (or Oregon for that matter) wasn't even in the top ten for checklists submitted. Oregon was #7 for total species reported (203) and that's awesome, but I still think we can do better. Oregon submitted 1,141 checklists. Michigan was 10th and submitted 2,437 checklist. I would love it for us to make it into the top ten! I have my work cut out for me but, fear not, I am prepared!

Good Birding and please help spread the word about the GBBC! Thank you.