Environmental Discovery Center encourages residents to count birds for worldwide event

The Great Backyard Bird Count begins next week.

By Jarleene Almenas
| 2:00 p.m. February 5, 2021

Colleen Caceres points out a bird to Emerson Fredley and her daughter, Zoe, as dad Javier looks on during the 2020 Great Backyard Bird Count event. File photo by Wayne Grant

Ormond Beach Observer
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Birds of a feather flock together.

The Environmental Discovery Center is calling all birders and bird-enthusiasts to participate in the 2021 Great Backyard Bird Count, an annual event where people count birds all over the world. This year, the count will take place from Feb. 12 to Feb. 15.

Last year, a total of 268,574 people participated worldwide, according to the EDC. They counted over 27 million birds, representing 6,942 species in 194 countries.

While the EDC and the Halifax River Audubon hosted an event in 2020 to launch the count, due to COVID-19, this year will be a little different. The EDC has published a tutorial on YouTube illustrating how to take part in this year's count, which can be done anywhere, including your own backyard while using eBird, an online bird observation database.

Why participate in the count? According to the EDC event flyer, counting birds helps scientists know more about changes in bird populations. That leads to improving bird species survival.

For more information, call the EDC at 386-615-7081. To view the EDC's Youtube video for the full instructions, visit https://youtu.be/l3RekBl2Z1c