Act For the Birds

By Sally Conyne, Director, Citizen Science

We have a window of opportunity. Today, the vast majority of the species of birds in North America still exist in viable numbers in some remnant of suitable habitat. Today, we who love birds and the natural world in general exist in greater numbers than ever before, and those numbers are growing rapidly. And today, we have the tools that allow us to know and monitor that fragile world with depth and breadth that was unimaginable 10 years ago, let alone 102 years ago when the first Christmas Bird Count (CBC) was held. With these elements in place, we are all able to participate in conservation efforts. In fact, it is our mandate–our obligation–to become citizen scientists.

Over one hundred years ago, a handful of Christmas Bird Counters began a tradition by recording the species and their numbers in 25 circles around the continent. This year you can be among the tens of thousands who gather data in some of those same circles and in over 1900 additional sites. But now, rather than waiting months to enjoy or study those data, you’ll be able to see the results as soon as they are entered into the on-line database. And right now 102 years of reports are available for many uses, but especially conservation. Using this immense vault of CBC data (found at http://audubon.org/bird/cbc/hr/index.html), you can now conduct your own local, regional, or national study with relative ease. Please tell us what you find.

More than 15 years ago, Project FeederWatch (visit http://www.birdsource.org/pfw) became a continent-wide project sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Canadian Nature Federation, Bird Studies Canada, and National Audubon. Following a careful protocol, thousands of dedicated observers—some elderly, some housebound —have collected data about the status of feeder birds across the continent from November through April. When participants reported an illness among House Finches, the network of FeederWatchers made it possible to track the disease, identified as avian conjunctivitis. as it spread throughout the eastern half of the country. Additionally, the huge amount of data gathered during this project is precious to the understanding of climate’s impact on bird populations as well as of the general health of these populations. All of this information is now submitted and quickly available online.

The Great Backyard Bird Count or GBBC (available at http://www.birdsource.com/gbbc/) will be 6 years old this February 14–17. Submitted entirely online, the approximately 50,000 checklists from every state and province provide a winter snapshot of the status of our birds on that count weekend. A monitoring project that is designed to allow beginners and experts alike to participate, GBBC aims to engage and educate families and individuals in the hopes that they will continue their involvement through other bird monitoring projects. As with other projects, GBBC data become more and more valuable with each year that the information is compiled. Explore the results from your state or province, a region of the continent, or all of North America.

When we began to receive letters, e-mails, and phone calls in August about dwindling bird numbers in a variety of neighborhoods around the east and mid-west, we were alarmed and concerned. These reports seemed to coincide with the spread of the West Nile Virus. As this year’s warm months came to an end, we could do little but provide information (available at http://audubon.org/bird/ westnilevirus.html), caution against inappropriate reactions like rampant pesticide application, and educate regarding alternative responses. We had no broad scale, summer monitoring data for comparison to recent 2002 surveys.

However, this winter, we can all do much more. While no one was thinking of a scenario like the West Nile threat when these citizen science monitoring projects were developed, in the end, we have built a platform for an informed response to just such an event. The winter projects are in place and years of data have been collected. So let’s use these tools to learn as much as possible about the impact of this disease on our winter bird populations as we continue to collect long-term data. It is, of course, critically important that we maintain the same protocol as in previous years when we collect data this winter.

Heading into the future, take a look at eBird (available at http://www.birdsource.org), a new BirdSource tool that allows anyone to report any species, anywhere, and anytime. eBird opens a new era of citizen science when we can have all of the baseline data as they are needed, which will help our birds in a time of increasing threats from habitat loss to West Nile virus. All citizen scientists can participate in eBird and other projects through BirdSource at their level of expertise and as their time allows.

The window of conservation opportunity through which we gaze must become a door through which we step into action. Report banded, tagged, and marked birds as well as your observations of rarities and unusual occurrences. Get involved with your local Important Bird Area program http: //audubon.org/bird/iba/index.html, helping to monitor birds at some of their most important places. And participate in citizen science projects at your level of ability and comfort. Remember, you will double your impact if you take along a friend; and you’ll multiply it many times over if you include a scout troop or a class of kids.