Grab Your Sweetie and Go Count the Birds!

Finally, the sun is out along the Carolina coast. Temperatures will be rising into the 50s. And today, Saint Valentine's Day, is the start of the four-day, worldwide Great Backyard Bird Count.

After exchanging Valentine's cards and before going out to a romantic dinner, why not spend a little time outdoors (or cuddled up on a couch looking out the window) watching the birds and seeing how many different species you can count?

Sign up at www.BirdCount.org and you can submit your list of your observed birds and be part of a very worthwhile global census of our feathered friends. (This fun and educational event is sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, and Bird Studies Canada. I wrote about the details in yesterday's blogpost, which you can find just below this one.)

You can participate for just 15 minutes on one day of the four-day Count, or for as long as you want.

My lifelong sweetie, my Dear Wife, and I plan to do some counting this morning, and then more with the grandchildren when they come home from school, and then more each day through Monday. We will submit lists each time, and I bet they will add up to a diverse and colorful collection. I mentioned the start of the Count to the grandkids when we were out at a nice new Chinese restaurant last night and they immediately remembered last year's count and were excited about participating with us again. This is a wonderful event for reinforcing love of our natural environment with the young generation.

While writing this, I peeked out the window and saw an Orchard Oriole hopping around eating sunflower seed off the ground. That will be the leadoff bird in my count.

Happy birding and a Happy Valentine's Day as well to all!


© Robert G. Holland  2014