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Join the crowd to count backyard birds

A blue jay is attracted by peanuts at a feeder in northwest Spokane. Up through the 1990s, blue jays were considered very rare east of the Rocky Mountains. But the birds have been expanding their range and settling into the Inland Northwest. Coeur d'Alene Auduboners have documented nesting jays in their area and even hybrids from interbreeding between blue jays and native Steller's jays. (Tom Munson)
By Rich Landers richl@spokesman.com(509) 459-5508
A blue jay is attracted by peanuts at a feeder in northwest Spokane. Up through the 1990s, blue jays were considered very rare east of the Rocky Mountains. But the birds have been expanding their range and settling into the Inland Northwest. Coeur d'Alene Auduboners have documented nesting jays in their area and even hybrids from interbreeding between blue jays and native Steller's jays. (Tom Munson)
A blue jay is attracted by peanuts at a feeder in northwest Spokane. Up through the 1990s, blue jays were considered very rare east of the Rocky Mountains. But the birds have been expanding their range and settling into the Inland Northwest. Coeur d'Alene Auduboners have documented nesting jays in their area and even hybrids from interbreeding between blue jays and native Steller's jays. (Tom Munson)

WILDLIFE WATCHING — Birders are signing up to contribute 15 minutes of their favorite hobby to science.

The Great Backyard Bird Coun t , Feb.13-16, involves birders of all levels of experience to count the number of birds they see in a 15-minute period and enter their tally, by species,online.

Participants can conduct their count in their own backyards, in a neighborhood park or anywhere they choose.

Check it out.

BTW, kids can really get into this. Grab a field guide to birds or Google what you see and feed the brain for natural science.

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Outdoors Blog." Read all stories from this blog