Audubon Society seeks more participation in count

Paul Green of the National Audubon Society says he feels that the number of people in Alleghany County taking part in the Society's annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) needs to increase.

Last year, according to information available online at www.birdsource.org/gbbc, a total of three Sparta area residents took part in the GBBC, reporting a total of 14 species.

And from Feb. 13-16 of this year, the count will take place for the seventh consecutive year.

"We have one bird count in the beginning of each winter, and one towards the end of each winter," said Green, who is Director of Citizen Science for the National Audubon Society. The first count mentioned by Green is the Christmas Bird Count, which has been going on for more than 100 years and which Jim Keighton of Blue Ridge Birders called "the largest running biological survey on Earth."

Green said that the GBBC is a less formal event than the Christmas Bird Count. "It doesn't take much time; people can watch from their own backyards for 15 or 20 minutes each day, or they can go to their local park."

Green also said that sign-up for the GBBC is done online at the website, where a checklist of all the birds seen in a particular area is also available, and where GBBC participants submit the data they collect during the GBBC.

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