Bird watching. Credit Erin Millstead

I also plan to take my daughter to a local hiking trail to look for more birds and wildlife, different than what we see in our yard. Afterwards, we’ll have fun learning online about the bird species we have seen and playing the games and activities on the bird count website. The online bird guide will be a good resource for us.

I grew up in Southern California in the “land of eternal spring.” Swallows, hummingbirds, pelicans, and seagulls were the type of birds I saw around my backyard. From my backyard swing, I often gazed at the huge pelicans that sailed overhead and then plunged down with a huge splash into the sea chasing fish for their dinner.

Like clockwork, every March I would hear a chorus of birds outside my bedroom window and realized it was springtime and all the birds had again come back from South America to their California homes. In my little world, birds were seen and heard everywhere, because in Southern California, windows and doors were always open to catch the cool ocean breezes. With the temperature ranging from 50-70 degrees in my seaside town, bird calls always accompanied the roar of the Pacific Ocean.

When I moved to the East Coast and started to experience the seasons, I marveled at the glistening snow on the ground, deep green evergreens and bright red cardinals. What a beautiful contrast. Then, when spring and summer came, I witnessed purple martins (an East Coast version of my beloved Swallow) flying around my yard in search of bugs during the early evening hours. When my baby was born, I took her outside to point out all the birds and trees in our backyard so that she felt comfortable with the sights and sounds of nature.

I’m excited to share my love of birds and the outdoors to my child during the Great Backyard Bird Count. I can’t expect her to love the natural world as I do without spending time surrounded by a world of green. I hope the birds will cooperate by giving us a good show. Some great tips for enjoying the outdoors with children are at National Wildlife Federation’s Be Out There website.

What birds do you think you will see this weekend? You might see Cardinals, Pelicans, Canadian Geese, Egrets, and Ducks. Leave a comment and let us know what you find!

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A male northern cardinal flies up to a backyard bird feeder. Photo by Hazel Erikson.

Beginning this Friday, February 18, bird lovers across the United States and Canada will count birds in their backyards and beyond during the 14th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). Sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon Society and Bird Studies Canada, the four-day event generates a valuable “real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent,” say the organizers.

Typically, GBBC participants turn in more than 10 million observations of more than 600 North American bird species. Highlights from last year’s event include records of more than 1.8 million American robins and the first-ever red-billed tropicbird tallied in the history of the count.

By participating in the GBBC, bird-watchers are helping scientists monitor and conserve birds. “When thousands of people all tell us what they’re seeing, we can detect changes in birds’ numbers and locations from year to year,” says Janis Dickinson, director of citizen science for the Cornell lab. Such observations “can serve as an early-warning system for worrisome declines in bird populations.”

Past counts, for example, revealed declines in the number of American crows since 2003, when West Nile virus spread across the United States. This year, tallying birds along the U.S. Gulf Coast may help scientists detect possible impacts from last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Birders of any age or skill level—from beginners to experts—are welcome to participate. All you need to do is spend a minimum of 15 minutes counting birds on any single day of the event. But you can spend as much time as you want, tallying birds not only in your backyard, but throughout your neighborhood or anywhere else you happen to be from February 18 to February 21.

Record the highest number of individuals of each species that you see together at any one time. Report your results at  www.birdcount.org/.  The site also provides basic bird-ID tips and will show real-time results of the GBBC as they come in.

Make your yard more inviting to birds by turning it into an NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat.

Report your bird and other wildlife observations to NWF’s Wildlife Watch.

Explore the joys of backyard birding with children.

UPDATE (2/23): The 14th annual Great Backyard Bird Count is over. Make sure to submit your checklists by March 1. As of today, participating birders across the United States and Canada have turned in 73,497 checklists and observed 583 bird species. They’ve counted a total of 9,110,689 individual birds.

UPDATE (3/3): Statistics from the 14th annual GBBC: Total checklists submitted: 91,812. Total species observed: 595. Total individual birds counted: 11,362,767. An overview of the 2011 count is coming soon. Next GBBC: February 17 – 20, 2012.

The sponsors of the event describe it as follows: “The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in cou”nting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event. It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds.” To learn more or participate: