One of our resolutions for 2017 is to get outside more often. When we make resolutions, we love to set not only the goals for the upcoming year, but the strategies we’re going to use to accomplish our goals. A strategy for getting outside more often? Learn a new outdoor hobby! Enter backyard birding. Admittedly, our knowledge of birding is a bit lacking. We can identify a great blue heron, a cardinal and a blue jay, but that’s about as far as our knowledge goes. The Lower Shore Land Trust is here to help with their Winter Bird Identification and Backyard Birding Program on February 4th. This event will feature presenter Barbara Dolan from Tri-County Bird Club to discuss bird identification techniques. This event is great for all ages, and can be a great opportunity to teach little ones about the birds they see in their own backyard. Participants in this event will also have the opportunity to create their own bird feeder so they can attract visitors to their own yard.
This event is a great precursor to The Great Backyard Bird Count, a worldwide program that collects data from over 160,000 citizen scientists from over 130 countries. The Great Backyard Bird Count takes place February 17 – 20, and asks citizens to engage in bird counting. Participants are asked to count from any location, for at least 15 minutes on one day between those dates. This data is used for analyzing bird populations and migratory patterns to determine where to concentrate conservation efforts.
For those that are interested in spending more time outdoors, learning more about the birds in our area and being well informed about conservation efforts, consider attending the Winter Bird Identification and Backyard Birding Program on the 4th at the Lower Shore Land Trust office at 100 River Street in Snow Hill, and then consider becoming a citizen scientist for The Great Backyard Bird Count. For more information, please visit the Lower Shore Land Trust website.
