Join the Great Backyard Bird Count

A Northern Mockingbird, a resident species, eats berries near the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center.

Bonnie Portzline

News Release Date: February 2, 2017

Contact: Katie Lawhon, 717-338-4402

On Saturday, February 18 the public is invited to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count at the Gettysburg National Military Park’s Museum and Visitor Center, 1195 Baltimore Pike, Gettysburg. From 12:30 - 3:30 p.m., visitors can join park biologists and volunteers and learn about the birds wintering in the Gettysburg community. 
 
A bird viewing station will be set up inside the park Visitor Center lobby and visitors will be able to view the birds just outside the windows at feeding stations. Bring binoculars and guide books if you have them. The park will have a good number of binoculars to loan out to visitors at the event and free bird checklists. 
 
The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is a free, fun, and easy event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of bird populations. Participants are asked to count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the four-day event and report their sightings online at birdcount.org. Anyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from beginning bird watchers to experts, and you can participate from your backyard, or anywhere in the world.
 
Data from this event will help scientists gain a better understanding of the distribution and abundance of birds. Each checklist submitted during the GBBC helps researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society learn more about how birds are doing, and how to protect them and the environment we share. Last year, more than 160,000 participants submitted their bird observations online, creating the largest instantaneous snapshot of global bird populations ever recorded.
 
The Gettysburg event is co-sponsored by the South Mountain Audubon Society, Gettysburg National Military Park and the Gettysburg Foundation. More information is available online at the Audubon Society website.