Great Backyard Bird Count
Join our Education Department as we participate yet again in the 23rd annual Great Backyard Bird Count!
Join educators as we participate yet again in the 23rd annual Great Backyard Bird Count! This interactive experience is perfect for bird lovers of all ages! Participants can visit the zoo to count birds in order to help create a real-time snapshot of where birds are! The Great Backyard Bird Count takes place across the country, and helps avian researchers gather information to better protect wild birds for the future! This event will take place in the Discovery Center Classroom.
This is a free program, but registration is required.
Registration opens 1/15
Register Here
Great Backyard Bird Count
Join our Education Department as we participate yet again in the 23rd annual Great Backyard Bird Count!
Join educators as we participate yet again in the 23rd annual Great Backyard Bird Count! This interactive experience is perfect for bird lovers of all ages! Participants can visit the zoo to count birds in order to help create a real-time snapshot of where birds are! The Great Backyard Bird Count takes place across the country, and helps avian researchers gather information to better protect wild birds for the future! This event will take place in the Discovery Center Classroom.
This is a free program, but registration is required.
Registration opens 1/15
Register Here
Climate Watch
The John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove & Valley Forge Audubon Society is excited to partner with Elmwood Park Zoo on Audubon’s Climate Watch, a community science program that explores how North American birds are responding to climate change!
Come to a FREE training session to learn how to play a role in helping birds around the continent!
Join us to learn how to collect data that will validate the current projections of Audubon’s climate models. Once trained on how to use our bird watching protocols to count bluebirds and nuthatches, you can get started!
Training date:
Tuesday, May 7th : 6:00-7:00pm @ Elmwood Park Zoo
***Please email Erin Rackovan, our Climate Watch Coordinator, at erackovan@elmwoodparkzoo.org for more information or to register.
Not a birder? Not a problem! ALL ARE WELCOME!
In 2014, Audubon released the Audubon Birds and Climate Change report highlighting the risks that climate change poses to birds across North America. In response, thousands of people asked how they could help make the world a better place for birds. Since the program’s launch in 2016, hundreds of dedicated Climate Watch volunteers have traversed habitats across the U.S. to look for bluebirds and nuthatches, our two target species.
Great Backyard Bird Count
Join our Education Department as we participate yet again in the 22nd annual Great Backyard Bird Count!
This interactive experience is perfect for bird lovers of all ages! Participants can visit the zoo to count birds in order to help create a real-time snapshot of where birds are! The Great Backyard Bird Count takes place across the country, and helps avian researchers gather information to better protect wild birds for the future!
EPZ will be participating by hosting FREE programs in the zoo’s Discovery Center (located adjacent to otter/porcupine exhibits) on the following days:
Friday, February 15th from 10:30am-12pm
Saturday, February 16th from 10:30am-12pm
Sunday, February 17th from 10:30am-12pm
To sign up for one of these free bird count sessions with our zoo educators, please CLICK HERE.
Why Should We Count Birds?
As we grow closer to February’s “Great Backyard Bird Count,” it’s easy to wonder about the importance of counting birds. How can something so simple really make a difference for the habitats and livelihood of birds? Can an individual really help out thousands of birds colonies around the country? Short answer: YES!
How can counting birds make a difference?
Scientists, conservationists, and bird enthusiasts can all gain a lot from the data reflected in the Great Backyard Bird Count. Especially given the fact that they are a flighted animal, numbers on bird populations are always changing. There’s little chance that one small group of scientists could accurately keep track of all of the changing bird patterns throughout a year. That’s where the citizen-scientists come in! The more data that comes in, the easier it is for scientists to track patterns and similarities across the board for these bird species. This data helps them answer important questions on a variety of subjects, including the ones below:
- Climate change and how it affects populations
- Habitat locations
- Migration patterns
- Bird diseases
- Bird diversity in rural, suburban, and urban areas
What is the Great Backyard Bird Count?
According to the official website: “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 to collect data on wild birds and to display results in near real-time. Now, more than 160,000 people of all ages and walks of life worldwide join the four-day count each February to create an annual snapshot of the distribution and abundance of birds.”
Great Backyard Bird Count at EPZ
Register for a free and interactive bird-counting session at the zoo with our education department! Learn more here!
Written by: Ali Chiavetta
Source: GBBC website