Citizen science to drive upcoming 'Great Backyard Bird Count'

Can you find any birds around you? Do you see any? Hear any? Well, for the next several days, birds will play a starring role in a massive Citizen Science project, and everyone is invited to join in. With her camera at the ready, Patty Katmire prepares for visitors in her backyard. It's just my passion and it's where I go to relax. Fluttering about, birds flock to her

expert to help. It's so easy. Just come sit outside in your yard or go to a park. There's plenty of online apps like Merlin and E-Bird and other ones like BirdNet where you can just record the sound and it will come back and tell you what bird it is. Last year's count included 384,000 people in more than 190 countries around the world, uploading their observations to

the Counts website and helping researchers better understand what environmental changes birds may be facing. We're seeing birds here that we never saw before. Certainly are in the marine environment just down the coast from Katmire's home. Katie Higgins and Diana Churchill are keeping an eye out for birds at the University of Georgia Marine Education Center near Savannah. They were right under the dog. Higgins and educator here

and part of the local Oghichi Audubon says data collected during the more than 25 years of the count is crucial for researchers. You're getting a snapshot of that seasonality of when birds are spending time in certain areas. So the more people we have looking at the same time, the better that data contributes to long-term trends. Trends that Diana Churchill says she's observed first hand with warmer

winters here. 20 years ago, if you found a Baltimore Oriole here in the winter, it was a rarity. It was a rare bird alert. Now lots of Baltimore Orioles are wintry in this area instead of going down to Florida or the islands or Central America. No matter the location, you can see the birds are in the water. In addition, Churchill says there are little things people

can do to help encourage birds to thrive around them. How can I improve my diversity? What native plants might I add that will bring more birds in and help them nest here and give them the food that they need, etc. What we do in our backyards becomes very important to the birds into the wildlife. Something patty cap buyer understands and hopes others will too. It just

became an awareness of, you know, how important birds in protecting their habitats is and how fragile they are and just how beautiful they are. A beauty they hope everyone will take note of and help count. Mya Rodriguez, Scripps News, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.