Internet Site Helps Build Database Of Bird Sightings

Sun., March 21, 1999

Birders across the nation are getting wired to help ornithologists track trends in bird species.

About 42,000 reports rolled via the Internet during the Second Annual Great Backyard Bird Count Feb. 19-22, a project developed by National Audubon Society and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

The number of reports tripled from last year, when the BirdSource project debuted.

Most of the reports come from the more populated Eastern half of the United States. However, the West was well represented in metropolitan areas.

Washington residents filed 854 reports and 156 came in from Idaho.

For the entire United States and Canada, mourning dove appeared on the most number of report forms (23,709 forms), followed by northern cardinal (21,310), dark-eyed junco (20,866), American crow (17,205), and house finch (16,981).

The species reported in highest numbers were European starling (217,253 birds reported), Canada goose (188,189), house sparrow (170,864), common grackle (161,763), and dark-eyed junco (161,326).

Participants were invited this year to vote for their favorite bird. The “Top 10 List” put the chatty little black-capped chickadee at the top, followed by northern cardinal, ruby-throated hummingbird, Eastern bluebird, great blue heron, bald eagle, common loon, and Carolina wren.

With interest growing among so many birders across the nation, bird researchers hope to compile a database that will enable them to more readily detect population and movement trends among the species.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a membership institute dedicated to the study, appreciation, and conservation of birds worldwide. The lab maintains programs in academic research, public education and citizen science to foster understanding about nature and the importance of the earth’s biological diversity.

BIRDSOURCE PROJECT Information and results of the BirdSource Project that compiles backyard birding observations into a North American database is available on the Internet at http://birdsource.cornell.edu

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