This photo shows a long-tailed duck. Lucky birders around Auke Bay might spot these birds during the upcoming Great Backyard Bird Count. Nine were counted on Juneau’s Christmas Bird Count. (Courtesy Photo / Gwen Baluss)

This photo shows a long-tailed duck. Lucky birders around Auke Bay might spot these birds during the upcoming Great Backyard Bird Count. Nine were counted on Juneau’s Christmas Bird Count. (Courtesy Photo / Gwen Baluss)

Audubon Society invites you to participate in Great Backyard Bird Count

The Great Backyard Bird Count is fast approaching, Juneau Audubon Society announced.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is fast approaching, Juneau Audubon Society announced.

During the four-day event, birdwatchers at every level are encouraged to record each bird seen in at least one 15-minute time frame at a specific location. The event will take place Feb. 18-21. The count started in 1998 and is a partnership between the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

This count offers scientists an opportunity to understand bird populations before most species’ annual spring migration and gives bird lovers a chance to view their local bird population during a vital time of the year. Tallying will be done via the online data entry for bird observations, eBird, the world’s largest citizen-science project to date.

For more information on how to participate, visit https://www.birdcount.org/participate.

Christmas count

The Great Backyard Bird Count follows the better-known Christmas Bird Count, which started in 1900 when ornithologist Frank Chapman along with the help of 27 other bird enthusiasts in the Northeast, according to the Audubon Socienty.

Over a century later, Christmas Bird Counts continue and are held all over the world. In the Americas, tens of thousands of birders participate in the event, sharing their feathered sightings. This long-term and broad geographic scale allows conservationists and scientists to use the data, along with modern statistical methods, to help assess the status of bird populations.

In Juneau, the Christmas Bird Count has occurred for 49 years, and this past one was successful, according to Juneau Audubon Society.

On Dec. 18, over 7,200 individual birds were reported by 39 participants, according to Juneau Audubon Society. A total of 53 species were counted. Last year’s count day yielded 51 species and 8,352 total birds.

Annual variation is to be expected, according to Juneau Audubon Soceity. Other species fluctuate dramatically year to year because of differences in weather, and habitat available, especially dependent on what areas are frozen in a given year. For example, the varied thrush, familiar in summer, is usually rare in winter. None were recorded on the recent count, but two years ago a surprising 120 were registered. Annual declines at one count area do not always mean overall population decline for the species because sometimes the birds simply move to more hospitable areas.

However, when counts are done throughout the continent, and they turn up low everywhere, this may be a cause for concern. Juneau registered an all-time low count of white-winged scoters, a sea duck, which mirror what biologists believe to be population declines on a larger scale.

Only three individuals were seen, and numbers have been low the last decade. Some historic local counts for this species have topped 1,000. The Christmas Bird Count can show conservation successes too.

Recent counts reflect the comeback of the bald eagle; with thousands of birds being counted even outside of Alaska. Juneau boasted 155. Full details for the 2021 Juneau count can be found at http://www.juneau-audubon-society.org.

Contact the Juneau Empire newsroom at (907)308-4895.

More in News

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Aurora forecast through the week of Dec. 15

These forecasts are courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute… Continue reading

Lightering boats return to their ships in Eastern Channel in Sitka on June 7, 2022. (James Poulson/Sitka Sentinel)
Sitka OKs another cruise ship petition for signature drive

Group seeks 300K annual and 4,500 daily visitor limits, and one or more days with no large ships.

The Wrangell shoreline with about two dozen buildings visible, including a Russian Orthodox church, before the U.S. Army bombardment in 1869. (Alaska State Library, U.S. Army Infantry Brigade photo collection)
Army will issue January apology for 1869 bombardment of Wrangell

Ceremony will be the third by military to Southeast Alaska communities in recent months.

Juneau Board of Education members vote during an online meeting Tuesday to extend a free student breakfast program during the second half of the school year. (Screenshot from Juneau Board of Education meeting on Zoom)
Extending free student breakfast program until end of school year OK’d by school board

Officials express concern about continuing program in future years without community funding.

Juneau City Manager Katie Koester (left) and Mayor Beth Weldon (right) meet with residents affected by glacial outburst flooding during a break in a Juneau Assembly meeting Monday night at City Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Juneau’s mayor gets an award, city manager gets a raise

Beth Weldon gets lifetime Alaska Municipal League honor; Katie Koester gets bonus, retroactive pay hike.

Dozens of residents pack into a Juneau Assembly meeting at City Hall on Monday night, where a proposal that would require property owners in flood-vulnerable areas to pay thousands of dollars apiece for the installation of protective flood barriers was discussed. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Assembly OKs lowering flood barrier payment for property owners to about $6,300 rather than $8,000

Amended ordinance makes city pay higher end of 60/40 split, rather than even share.

A family ice skates and perfects their hockey prowess on Mendenhall Lake, below Mendenhall Glacier, outside of Juneau, Alaska, Nov. 24, 2024. The state’s capital, a popular cruise port in summer, becomes a bargain-seeker’s base for skiing, skating, hiking and glacier-gazing in the winter off-season. (Christopher S. Miller/The New York Times)
NY Times: Juneau becomes a deal-seeker’s base for skiing, skating, hiking and glacier-gazing in winter

Newspaper’s “Frugal Traveler” columnist writes about winter side of summer cruise destination.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy (left) talks with U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and local leaders during an Aug. 7 visit to a Mendenhall Valley neighborhood hit by record flooding. (Photo provided by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s office)
Dunleavy to Trump: Give us Mendenhall Lake; nix feds’ control of statewide land, wildlife, tribal issues

Governor asks president-elect for Alaska-specific executive order on dozens of policy actions.

Most Read