Great Backyard Bird Count

Great Backyard Bird Count: Participation in 8th Annual GBBC Reaches Record Numbers

Ithaca & New York, NY, April 8, 2005 - Tens of thousands of bird enthusiasts focused their eyes, ears, and cameras on North America's birds for a single weekend during the 8th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), February 18 -21, 2005. The results are now in. The event produced 52,000 checklists, 24 percent more than last year. It produced 613 species of birds surpassing the previous record of 567 and the birders counted more than 6.5 million birds, shattering the previous record of 4.8 million set in 2002. They also sent in more than one thousand photographs of the birds they saw, some of which can be seen at http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc.

While Snow Goose was the most numerous bird counted this year (835,369 birds counted), the Northern Cardinal was seen by more people (29,457) on the count than any other species. Participants in New York (2,991) sent in more checklists than in any other state, and Pennsylvania reported the most birds (623,317), boosted by counts of Snow Geese. In Gautier, Mississippi, where the mayor issued an official proclamation for his citizens to go out and count birds, the result was that Gautier was the town submitting the greatest number of checklists (433). Top Ten lists are all featured on the website http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc.

There is a wealth of other material and a plethora of in-depth stories and information on the GBBC website at http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc. Check out animated maps of bird sightings in your own community. Be sure to save the date for next year, February 17-20 2006, for the 9th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count!