The Pelican-- Great Backyard Bird Count 2024 at LAS

By Lauren Whitenack, Field Trip Chair

Every year, National Audubon partners with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for the Great Backyard Bird Count, which is a worldwide effort to get people to count all the birds they see over a long weekend. This year, the Great Backyard Bird Count will be held from February 16-19. To participate, simply observe birds for at least 15 minutes in any location (does not have to be your backyard!) and write down all the birds you see or hear. Then, share your bird list either via Merlin (particularly helpful for beginners) or eBird (try to document numbers of each species of bird). LAS will be participating in this year's event by hosting multiple field trips to local birding spots throughout that weekend. Currently, field trips that are planned for the Great Backyard Bird Count weekend include:

• Boynton Slough - Dry Creek Field Trip led by Jeff Bleam, 2/16
• Crystal Peak Park Field Trip led by Ben Sonnenberg, 2/17
• Swan Lake Field Trip led by Ned Bohman, 2/18

The data collected during events such as the Great Backyard Bird Count are used by scientists to understand many aspects of bird biology, including species distributions, migration timing, bird communities, and how all these are changing with climate change and human development. The more we know about where birds are in time and space, the better we can conserve these species. 

Please join us to count birds in the Reno area! Visit nevadaaudubon.org and scroll down to the calendar to view and register for upcoming events.