This coming Saturday, Nov. 10 marks the first day to collect data for Project Feederwatch. This is a Citizen Science project of the Cornell Ornithology Lab which encourages people all over the US and Canada to identify and count the birds that visit their backyard bird feeders during the months from November to April every year. If you are already a birder this is a great way for you to contribute and if you are new to birding or just getting interested it is a great way to improve your skills at bird identification. It can be a great family activity. Not only are you spending time together watching the birds but you also can work together to keep the feeders and birdbaths clean and filled. Even the youngest members of the family can get in on the act.
http://watch.birds.cornell.edu/PFW/ExploreData?cmd=topSpecies&period=PFW_2012®ionCode=MA
Want to get started? Here’s a link to the website for Project Feederwatch: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/InstruxandUpdates/newtodataentry.html?utm_source=Cornell+Lab+eNews&utm_campaign=27981709dd-PFW_eNewsletter_November_201110_31_2011&utm_medium=email
What is Citizen Science? It might be defined as projects in which volunteers partner with scientists to answer real-world questions.” Here’s a link to a site that can help answer that question and point you toward other Citizen Science projects that might interest you. http://www.birds.cornell.edu/citscitoolkit/about/definition.