As a kickoff to the global Great Backyard Bird Count, Audubon North Carolina, Wake Audubon Society, and the City of Raleigh hosted 75 participants for a bird count at Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh on February 15, 2019.
Following remarks by National Audubon Society President and CEO David Yarnold and First Lady of North Carolina Kristin Cooper, volunteers from Wake Audubon Society led groups on a 15-minute count of birds at Dorothea Dix Park, finding 40 species including Barred Owl, Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Red-winged Blackbirds.
The 22nd Great Backyard Bird Count ran February 15-18, 2019. Volunteers from around the world counted the birds they saw for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count, then entered their checklists at birdcount.org. Anyone with internet access can participate, no matter what their skill level—it’s a great family activity, too.
During the 2018 count, bird watchers from more than 100 countries submitted more than 180,000 bird checklists reporting a record 6,456 species–more than half the known bird species in the world. In North Carolina, bird watchers submitted 3,980 checklists reporting 213 species. North Carolina ranked ninth among states in the total number of checklists submitted. Checklists represented 97 of 100 counties, with Wake County submitting the most at 528 checklists.
To learn more about how to take part in a future Great Backyard Bird Count, visit birdcount.org. The Great Backyard Bird Count is a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society with partner Bird Studies Canada and is made possible in part by founding sponsor Wild Birds Unlimited.
Source: Kim Brand, Audubon North Carolina
