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Friday Feb.15 -Brazosport Birders
President, David Plunkett, to speak at the F.O.R. Community
Center. The doors will open at 6:00 PM to provide plenty
of time to visit with your neighbors before the
presentation begins at 7:00 PM. Please plan to attend
and get all those bird questions answered by a Brazosport
Birder expert. See Community Center tab above for
directions.
Snow Geese by Stephanie Olson
A Weekend for the Birds
As you know, Friday, February 15,
F.O.R. hosts its first community lecture at the Community
Center. David Plunkett, President of the Brazosport Birders,
will be helping us all identify the birds we find at our
feeders right in our backyards. When the doors open at 6:00
and on through the talk, we will all learn to appreciate the
birds in our neighborhood and local refuges.
Whether or not you have the chance to attend the lecture,
you and your family can still participate in the President’s
Birthday weekend 11th annual Great Backyard Bird Count
hosted by the National Audubon Society and Cornell Lab of
Ornithology from February 15-18. People of all bird
watching abilities and all ages all over the nation will be
counting birds in their own backyards.
Why participate? Well, when you count birds and share your
list (whether the list is short or long) with the scientists
online at
www.birdcount.org you will be helping them understand
more about the distribution and abundance of birds and how
they are changing over time. Last year, a record breaking
80,000 lists were submitted. American Robins topped the list
as the most numerous species counted with more than two
million recorded.
This is something fun you can do with your family this
Valentine’s Day weekend. So, what do you do? Visit
www.birdcount.org
to download your instructions – including tips on
identifying your bird species. You can also download a
checklist of birds for your area. Then, choose where you
want to count the birds and start counting. Write down the
highest number of individuals you see at one time. Then,
after spending at least 15 minutes of watching birds in one
place, report your findings at
www.birdcount.org .
Remember, you can spend more time watching if you want – but
spend at least 15 minutes. You can repeat your count at the
same place on each day of the Great Backyard Bird Count and
you can also visit other locations and submit separate
tallies for those areas as well.
And what’s really interesting is
that during the count, you can view online maps and lists
that are updated during the bird count weekend. That way,
you can see how our local birds fit into the “big picture”
of the nation. You can start out with David Plunkett’s
lecture and slide show at the Community Center and then, if
you want to spend a little time watching, you can
participate in a whole weekend that‘s, well – for the birds!
Photos:
birdsource.org
Anne Middleton (American Robin)
Robert Park (Belted Kingfisher)
Stephanie Olson (Snow Geese)
One of F.O.R.'s
primary functions is to educate the public
regarding the issues concerning the San Bernard
River and it's Communities. Contact Pat Webb
pat@sanbernardriver.com to schedule a
guest speaker for your group or special event.
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