The Great Backyard Bird Count – 2022 – Wrap up
Each year for the last seven years, The Friends of the Fossil Beds have hosted The Great Backyard Bird Count which is an international Citizen Science event. This year was the 25th year of this event which usually involves over 125 countries for a period of 4 days from a Friday through Monday in the middle of February.
We held our event on Saturday, February 19th from 9 AM to 1 PM at the Florissant Fossil Beds NM. To make your count legal for submission, you must count for at least 15 minutes. Many of our Board members helped with the event. We did 3 separate counts with the help of Jenyva Turner from the Aiken Chapter of the Audubon Society in Colorado Springs. All of the 3 counts involved short hikes which were enjoyed by all. The first hike at about 9:15 was done by one of Catamount Institute’s YES (Young Environmental Stewards) Clubs. The second count at 10:15 was done by Board members with Jenyva helping. The 3rd count was done at about 12:30 with Jenyva leading visitors to the Monument.
In all, 6 species were counted, and that included 15 individual birds. The weather cooperated but the birds weren’t around.
It was a fun time for everyone. Many children made bird feeders out of pine cones. There was also a variety of other bird activities for children to do such as bird charades and a bird scavenger hunt.