Help Project FeederWatch Track Backyard Birds

Enter the "Spooky Birds" Contest!

Bird watchers needed to help scientists discover changes in bird populations

There was a massive southern movement of Pine Siskins during the 2008-09 season. Read more.

Ithaca, NY—What happens in the backyard should not stay in the backyard—at least when it comes to bird feeders. By sharing information about which birds visit their feeders between November and April, backyard bird watchers can help scientists track changes in bird numbers and movements from year to year, through Project FeederWatch, a citizen-science program from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada.Project FeederWatch begins on November 14 and runs through early April. Taking part is easy. Anyone can count the numbers and kinds of birds at their feeders and enter their information on the FeederWatch website. Participants submitted nearly 117,000 checklists last season. Since 1987, more than 40,000 people from the United States and Canada have taken part in the project.

“To get the most complete picture of bird movements, we always need new sets of eyes to tell us what species are showing up at backyard feeders,” says David Bonter, leader of Project FeederWatch. “Participants always tell us how much fun it is and how good it feels to contribute to our understanding of birds by submitting their sightings.”

Project FeederWatch is for people of all ages and skill levels. To learn more and to sign up, visit www.feederwatch.org or call the Cornell Lab toll-free at (866) 982-2473.

Participant Nancy Corr of Harrisburg, Oregon, sums up her Project FeederWatch experience: “Thanks for the wonderful opportunity to share our love of birding and to participate in something meaningful!”

Regional highlights based on 2008-09 FeederWatch reports:

• Northeast quarter of U.S. & Southeastern Canada: On most lists: Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees. Fewer reports: Evening Grosbeak. Rare bird: Green-tailed Towhee (New Jersey).

Halloween is just a few weeks away, so we want to see and hear spooky things about birds! This is the latest environmental challenge from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Celebrate Urban Birds citizen-science project in conjunction with the Encyclopedia of Life website. We call this contest "A Murder of Crows and Other Spooky Bird Tales." (Believe it or not, a large group of crows is called a "murder," but there’s nothing really scary about it. Crows are very intelligent, family-oriented birds.)

Still, sometimes birds do things that seem pretty spooky and strange. So for this challenge, we want you to take photos, do a painting, write a story or poem, even shoot a video showing crows, pigeons, starlings, an owl, or any kind of bird doing something puzzling or strange to you. Then we can reveal what the behaviors are really all about. There’s usually a perfectly natural, non-scary explanation!

We've had two other environmental challenges so far this year and have received thousands of great entries. I'm attaching a PDF flier about the challenge you can print for yourself or pass along to others who might want to participate.

As always, we have some great prizes, including binoculars from Eagle Optics and Alpen, birdfeeders from YourBirdOasis.com, CDs, books, posters, and more. The first 50 entrants will receive a poster by Pedro Fernandez showing various behaviors of crows, jays, and other birds. We'll post selected images and videos on the Celebrate Urban Birds website. The very best will be included in species account on the website for the Encyclopedia of Life!

How do you enter?
Email your entry to urbanbirds@cornell.edu.1. Write "AMOC_YourFirstNameLastName_state" in the subject line. (Use the two-letter abbreviation for the state in which the photo was taken.)
2. Include your name and mailing address in the body of the email.
3. Tell us why you submitted your entry to the Murder of Crows challenge. What's the story behind it?
4. If you are submitting a visual image, please attach it as a .jpg
5. One image per entry, please.
6. Read terms of agreement.
7. If you agree to the terms, send us your entry before October 31!   

Deadline for entries is Halloween: October 31!

Visit the Celebrate Urban Birds website for more information and to read the terms of agreement regarding all entries.

Thanks for taking the challenge!

Sincerely,
Karen Purcell, Project Leader
(607) 254-2455
urbanbirds@cornell.edu