Each spring, the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, in conjunction with Audubon and Bird Studies Canada, sponsors the Great Backyard Bird Count, where people can count birds anywhere for at least 15 minutes, and submit their checklist to the Lab. This year 92,000 checklists were submitted, and six of them were from me.
The first two counts were from Yankee Point on Lake Okeechobee, done with Boy Scouts of America Troop 111, in conjunction with a tree planting with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. While one group was out planting, we did counts with the other. Both groups ended up with 34 species, including the endangered Everglade Snail Kite. Coots won the day for most numerous bird and a Peregrine Falcon whizzed by as well. For someone who spends too much time in meetings and at the computer, it was really fun for me to walk the shore and talk with energetic and interested scouts about the lake and its ecology.
The next count was a favorite, getting 21 species from my Aunt Aggie’s 6th story balcony in Naples, looking out on Pelican Bay. The count in my own yard in Lorida, full of habitat and with a feeder, only yielded 4 more species at 25.
The next count was at “Jaycee Park,” near the town of Okeechobee, otherwise known as the town’s fishing pier. Water levels were very favorable and I got 44 species, including 4 Limpkins, a Snail Kite, 11 gulls, terns and shorebirds, 18 Rosette Spoonbills among 9 wading bird species, and others. The final count was at Istokpoga Park in Highlands County. This tiny county park is on the shores of the lake, has cypress wetlands, and was good for 41, leisurely-gained, species. Nothing spectacular this year but I’ve gotten Short-tailed Hawks here and the big roost at the mouth of Arbuckle Creek once set the national record for highest counts of both Turkey and Black Vultures.
Ornithology, more than any branch of science I know of, benefits vastly from “amateurs.” This count, and many others coordinated through the Cornell Lab, give data sets that would cost…millions?...if we tried to hire “professionals” to conduct them. But birders, me included, are plenty skilled and with this count being so easy to conduct, just love to get this data and help the Lab build remarkably useful data sets. I encourage you to visit the Lab’s website to find a treasure trove of information gleaned from these citizen science projects.
