"Hear ye, hear ye! Let it be known that the Great Backyard Bird Count of 2009 commences this Friday, the 13th day of the month of February!"
"Why on earth are you talking so strangely, Mr. Jay? Just tell the people that this weekend is the time to count birds for science!"
"Okay, White-throated Sparrow. Did you know that you can count for all 4 days, or just one of the days? Yeah, that's right. Also, if you participate in Project Feederwatch during the GBBC days, you can submit your PFW counts toward GBBC, too (you will need to submit separate count sheets for both of your Feederwatch days, though)."
"Know what else, Pine Siskin? You can count all of the birds that you see, but you can also count birds that you hear (as long as you can ABSOLUTELY make a positive ID by call). You can also count flyovers if you can ABSOLUTELY make a positive ID on what you're seeing."
"Hey, White-breasted Nuthatch! We have to make sure to tell folks to put out plenty of food for the birds in their backyards! (And I'm sure some other critters won't mind the food, either! But you can't count us!)"
"Well Mr. Squirrel, we also want to tell people that there's a photo contest with lots of cool prizes like birdfeeders, binoculars, Audubon licensed products, and items from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. There's even a Wingscapes Bird Cam up for grabs!"
"Wanna know something cool, Mr. Junco? The Northern Cardinal has been the most frequently reported bird for the last 4 years of GBBC. Hooray for Ohio's state bird!"
Speaking of Ohio, here are some other Ohio stats from the 2008 GBBC:
- Mentor, OH submitted the 2nd highest number of checklists (460) for all reporting localities (Cincinnati submitted the 7th highest number with 282 checkists).
- Ohio submitted the 5th highest number of checklists (3,864) for all reporting states (that's up from 7th in 2007)
(All images manipulated in GIMP, the Gnu Image Manipulation Program, a free, open-source answer to PhotoShop.)
