How do we know this? Did someone count all the birds around the
country? Yes, indeed, someone did. Not just one “someone” but
many individuals working together. The count is known as the
Great Backyard Bird Count. It occurs over a long weekend in
February. And it has been going on for 15 years now. Its goal is
to have as many people counting the birds in their own yards
during the same time period as possible. Last year, there were
more than 104,000 checklists submitted from tens of thousands of
participants. More than 17 million individual birds were
counted! No single scientist or even a team of scientists could
hope to gather so much information about birds around the world
in just a short period of time. This kind of count results in a
fairly accurate estimate of how many birds there are and where
they are. And the more participants, the more accurate the
counting can be! The 2013 Great Backyard Bird Count will be held
from Feb. 15 (a Friday) through the 18th (a Monday). You may
participate on all four da