Nature Done Wright

Joe Koscielny has had a Baltimore Oriole in his Oakland yard for a few weeks. Photo credit: Joe Koscielny

My latest column for The Record is all about the annual Great Backyard Bird Count. You can read it here:

By Jim Wright

Special to The Record | USA TODAY NETWORK – NEW JERSEY

    The most engaging citizen-science project for casual birders runs tomorrow through Monday, and you don't have to get out of your armchair to participate.

   The free event is the 27th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. 

    All you have to do is look out your window, count the number of birds you see in at least 15 minutes – less than the amount of time it takes to drink your coffee – and report your numbers to Cornell via the eBird app or website.

   Teaneck native Frank Gill, who helped invent the immensely popular event, recalls: “We created [the Great Backyard Bird Count] as a test project for online citizen projects, but it mushroomed into a self-sustaining program of its own and now the amazing global eBird.”

   As Gill points out, “Birding itself is a growth industry.”

   The annual count has already created an impressive global database in its quarter-century. Dig a little on the birdcount.org website and you can get a snapshot of local birdlife locally as well. The database also includes photos of local birds taken during the count.

   Last year in Bergen County, for example, GBBC contributors saw 96 species over the four days, including red-breasted nuthatch, American woodcock and snow bunting.  

   The top four hotspots they birded were DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst, the Oradell Reservoir and Emerson Woods, Teaneck Creek Conservancy and the Celery Farm in Allendale. 

   Meanwhile, In Passaic County, GBBC contributors saw 87 species over the four days, including pileated woodpecker, red-headed woodpecker and – in downtown Clifton – a peregrine falcon.

    The top four hotspots were the Walker Avenue Wetlands and Packanack Lake in Wayne, Garret Mountain in Woodland Park, and Goffle Brook Park in Hawthorne. If you want to see birds this weekend or this spring, these are good places to start.

   If you’re new to birding, download the Merlin Bird ID app, which will help you identify the birds you see and hear.  

    A new online wrinkle this year is the Merlin Bird ID Trivia contest. The free interactive event runs from 8 to 9 tonight. It’s designed to help birders refresh their bird identification skills. You can register at bit.ly/4bfUr9s.

    In my last column, I invited readers to participate in an informal event called the Birdy 30. The challenge was to count the number of bird species you saw during any 30-minute period between Feb. 1 and 4. 

    The winner is Cynthia Ortiz of Hackensack, who saw an impressive 18 species in a half-hour. Congratulations, Cynthia. Ellen Rahl of Hillsdale inadvertently missed the deadline but had an astounding 22.

My favorite photo from the event was a picture of a Baltimore Oriole, shown here.

The Bird Watcher column appears every other Thursday. Jim’s latest book, “The Screech Owl Companion,” was published by Timber Press. You can write to Jim at celeryfarm@gmail.com.