'It's a citizen science project': How Manitobans can help researchers better understand bird populations

A bird-watching event that takes place every February is helping scientists understand bird populations.

The Great Backyard Bird Count was started in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society. Birds Canada joined on in 2009 and then it became a global project in 2013.

The goal of the count is to get people to watch and count as many birds as they can and report them back to researchers.

"It's a citizen science project put on by a number of organizations, Fort Whyte (Alive) is one of the local ones, to encourage citizen scientists, birders, backyard observers to record what they see so we have a handle of what our winter birds are doing," said Barret Miller, the corporate and group program manager for Fort Whyte Alive.

Miller said to participate in the bird count, people can be out and about for as little as 15 minutes or up to several hours if they feel like and all they have to do is look at the birds in the area.

If people are trying to identify birds, he said there are some tools out there that people can access. For beginner birders, he recommends the app Merlin Bird ID, which can help the user narrow down the bird they are looking at.

For those who are more advanced, he recommends looking at the specific marks on the birds.

"You look for field marks. You look for little things, the markings on the bird, the behaviour of the bird, which actually differentiates them from one another. What colour are its wings, what size is it."

While this can be a fun activity to do with friends and family, Miller said this really helps researchers understand bird trends.

"If all of a sudden there is a big explosion of a type of bird, what changed, where is that food source coming from? There has been a shift in the ecosystem and we need to know that."

The bird count runs for the rest of the long weekend and submissions can be entered on the eBird app.

More details on the Great Backyard Bird Count can be found online.