Red bellied woodpecker courtesy of Rachel Wood Ohio
The Great Backyard Bird Count just had another record-breaking year. People in 135 countries participated in the four-day count – Feb 14-17 – and observed a total of 4, 296 bird species. India came out on top in species observed– 819 species. Go to the resources at the end of this story to find out why the bird counts are important and what they mean. Many of the photos in this story were submitted for the GBBC Photo Contest. Check out the online gallery from the GBBC homepage.
Here’s how things stack up:
- Number of checklists submitted: 144,109
- Species observed: 4,296
- Countries participating: 135
- Number of birds counted 17.48 million
Top 10 countries by checklists submitted:
- United States
- Canada
- India
- Australia
- Mexico
- Chile
- Costa Rica
- Puerto Rico
- United Kingdom
- Portgual
Red-winged-blackbird — 1.6 million counted
Top 10 species appearing on the most checklists:
- Northern Cardinal 61,045 (checklists)
- Dark-eyed Junco 58,077
- Mourning Dove 50,596
- Blue Jay 45,027
- Downy Woodpecker 42,015
- American Goldfinch 38,348
- American Crow 37,121
- House Finch 36,917
- Tufted Titmouse 36,418
- House Sparrow 34,910
Townsend’s Warbler courtesy of Craig Kerns
Top 10 most numerous birds reported:
Rank Species # Counted
- Red-winged Blackbird 1,609,037
- Snow Goose 1,280,829
- Canada Goose 1,163,527
- European Starling 596,450
- Mallard 542,516
- Ring-billed Gull 466,536
- Dark-eyed Junco 456,627
- American Coot 454,169
- American Crow 371,813
- American Goldfinch 371,039
Great Backyard Bird Count learn more
What is ebird? (Cornell University)
What a pair! courtesy of Ella Clem Kentucky
Green News Update 