Each February, for four days, the world comes together for the love of birds. Over these four days we invite people to spend time in their favorite places watching and counting as many birds as they can find and reporting them to BirdCount.org. These observations help scientists better understand global bird populations before one of their annual migrations.

Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the Great Backyard Bird Count was the first online citizen-science project, also known as community science, to collect data on wild birds and to display results in near real time. Birds Canada joined the project in 2009 to provide an expanded capacity to support participation in Canada. In 2013, #BirdCount became a global project when experts began entering data into eBird, the world’s largest biodiversity-related citizen project.

Each year, participation grows as more people of all ages around the world spend their weekend counting, learning about, and celebrating birds.

Whether you count one bird or hundreds, participating can be easy and fun for all ages!

It can be done alone, or with others, and can be done anywhere you find birds.

Step 1 – Decide where you will watch birds

Step 2 – Watch birds for 15 minutes or more, at least once over the four days, February 18-21, 2022

Step 3 – Count all the birds you see or hear within your planned time/location and use the best tool for sharing your bird sightings:

• If you are a beginning bird admirer and new to the count, try using the Merlin Bird ID app
• If you have participated in the count before, try eBird Mobile app or enter your bird list on the eBird website (desktop/laptop)
• Also, as a part of your participation in the Great Backyard Bird Count, consider contributing to Birdability’s Map at birdability.org

The Birdability Map is a crowdsourced map which describes the accessibility features of birding locations all over the world. This allows people with accessibility challenges to find out in advance if a birding location is one they would like to visit. Your contributions will help in making birding and the outdoors more inclusive and accessible.

Here are some frequently asked questions about submitting to the Birdability app:

• What do you mean by “birding locations”?

Trails, bird blinds, observation platforms and feeder stations are all included. So are car birding sites! Any public place someone might go birding is a “birding location.”

• How accessible do they have to be, to be included on the Birdability Map?

Birding locations don’t have to be perfectly and completely accessible; very few places truly are. They just need to be “reasonably” accessible. Not everybody with an accessibility challenge requires all of the features of a truly accessible birding location to be able to visit it with success. Knowing what is and isn’t available is the helpful information.

• Is the trail concrete, asphalt, or a wooden boardwalk?
• Is the trail flat and at least 3ft. wide?
• As there signs with touchable components, or guide ropes to help folks who are blind or have low vision navigate independently?

If the answer to one or more of the above questions is “yes,” then it is a good candidate for a Birdability Site Review!

Please avoid submitting Birdability Site Review for birding locations that:

• Have sections of trail steeper than what you would consider a “gentle rise”
• Involve multiple sections of trail with more than three steps (unless there is an appropriate ramp for each set of steps)
• Require any amount of navigating around or over large obstacles, including rocks or large roots

Visit birdcount.org and birdability.org to learn more about how you can come together to watch, learn about, count, and celebrate birds.

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