Birders outdid themselves during the four days of the 2008 Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), Feb. 15-18, submitting a record number of checklists and identifying a record number of birds nationwide.

The GBBC is sponsored each year by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society and is a the quintessence of citizen science, as both accomplished and casual birders join forces to record the variety of species, and the numbers within each species, observed over a given period of time—as little as 15 minutes—in a given location.

Ornithologists, even climatologists and immunologists, use the accumulated data to track the increase or the decline of species as well as their spread year over year.

This year birders submitted a total of 85,700 checklists, breaking last year’s record by several thousand, and identified a total of 635 species. They also submitted thousands of stunning images of birds photographed across the continent.

Of particular note was the huge influx of northern finches which have come south in search of food, prompted by a massive seed production failure in trees throughout northern Canada. “As predicted, there were record numbers of GBBC reports for Pine Grosbeak,” said Rob Fergus, a senior scientist for the Audubon Society, in a statement released on Monday. It was a banner year as well for Common Redpolls and Evening Grosbeaks, reported in their highest numbers in several years.

Here in Duneland there were apparently no reports of Pine Grosbeak nor of Evening Grosbeak during the GBBC count, although several relatively rare Evening Grosbeaks and also a very rare Hoary Redpoll were both observed at the Nature Center at Indiana Dunes State Park in the fall of 2007.

In addition, the GBBC documented the explosive geographic expansion of the Eurasian Collared-

Dove, first introduced in Florida in 1980 and now aggressively spreading. For the first time, the GBBC this year recorded sightings of Eurasian Collared-Dove in British Columbia, Manitoba, and Oregon. In Northwest Indiana Eurasian Collared-Doves have been recently reported in LaPorte and an apparent colony of them has taken up residence in Whiting.

Some species appeared for the first time ever on this year’s GBBC, including in Texas a Masked Dove, a species usually found in the Tropics; an Arctic Loon, seldom seen outside Alaska, observed in California; and an Ivory Gull which wandered from its normal stomping grounds in the high Arctic all the way to South Dakota.

West Nile virus has taken its toll, on the other hand, on Yellow-billed Magpies (a Western region bird rarely if ever spotted in Indiana), as their numbers hit an all-time low. Magpies, crows, and jays are all especially susceptible to the virus, although nationwide Blue Jay and American Crow populations have apparently stabilized as they continue to adapt to this new disease.

“Each year, awareness of the GBBC seems to spread,” said Janis Dickinson, citizen science director at the Cornell Lab of Orithology. “Committed individuals, nature centers, parks, and schools adopted the GBBC as their own in an unprecedented way this year. They held bird walks, ID workshops, and many other events tied to the count.”

Preschoolers built feeders from milk jugs, the statement said, an artist painted a mural of urban birds in Hollywood, and one backyard bird counter commented, “Participating in the bird count has given my children a little taste of what it is like to be a scientist.”

According to the GBBC website, Duneland birders were in the thick of things. From Chesterton 18 checklists were submitted with a total of 33 species; from Beverly Shores, five checklists with 23 species; Porter, one checklist with 13 species; from Burns Harbor, one checklist with 14 species; from Ogden Dunes, two checklists with nine species; and from Dune Acres, one checklist with two species.

None of the species reported from Duneland was a truly rare one, however. The most numerous species from Chesterton counted were 95 House Sparrows, 69 Canada Geese, 57 Dark-eyed Juncos, 50 Swamp Sparrows, and 38 Blue Jays.

The Top-10 most reported birds nationwide were, at the top, Northern Cardinal, then Mourning Dove, Dark-eyed Junco, Downy Woodpecker, American Goldfinch, Blue Jay, House Finch, Tufted Titmouse, Black-capped Chickadee, and American Crow.

For a detailed summary of this year’s results, visit the GBBC website at www.birdcount.org

The Cornell Lab is a not-for-profit membership institution interpreting and conserving the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focusing on birds.

Audubon protects birds and other wildlife and the habitat which supports them. Its national network of community-based nature centers and chapters, scientific and educational programs, and advocacy on behalf of areas sustaining bird populations engage millions in conservation.

www.audubon.org

Posted 3/27/2008