Sharon Sorenson: Here's how to participate in February's Great Backyard Bird Count

Arctic-resident snowy owls have wandered through Indiana and southward into Kentucky this winter, exciting birders and photographers alike.

Another high Arctic resident, an immature gyrfalcon, likewise sailed through southern Indiana, breaking all records by appearing this far south. If not for the photos, no one would have believed that phenomenon.

Then a rock wren -- a resident of west Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico -- made an extended visit to Gibson County this winter. An immature golden eagle joined bald eagles hunting the waters and fields there, too. Common redpolls and a long-tailed duck, both northern wonders, are hanging out on Indy's west side. And a rufous hummingbird continues, as of this writing, visiting a heated Central Indiana feeder.

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Five stately whooping cranes, including a juvenile, have harbored in a protected southwestern Indiana wildlife area since fall.

At least two hundred tundra swans and probably as many trumpeter swans feed regularly in watery fields and shallow impoundments across southern Indiana and northern Kentucky. They, along with tens of thousands of snow geese, have created some fantastic clouds of white across area skies.

Okay, my yard doesn't boast any of these record-breaking sightings. Well, a plethora of cardinals joins a flock of house finches. And I do delight in the red-breasted nuthatch along with chickadees and titmice at my seed-cake feeder daily -- when they can duck the mockingbird's attack. Yesterday I startled 24 mourning doves huddled amid the frost-killed garden stalks, warming themselves in weak sun. Just ordinary day-to-day stuff.

Accounts of all these sightings, however, ordinary or not, are stuff of scientists' dreams. Indeed, scientists depend on all of us birdwatchers to report our observations, whether of starlings, house sparrows--or snowy owls! And now's the time!

Feb. 18-21 marks the 25th Great Backyard Bird Count, the largest global community-scientist event, cosponsored by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, and Bird Studies Canada. They need you. Here's how to do your part:

Watch birds for 15 minutes or as long as you like in one location, at least once over the four days. Or watch multiple times every day! Count the highest number of birds seen at any one time. For instance, if you see five robins one time and seven another, report seven, not 12. And look up; fly-overs count, too.

Enter your count online via the free apps Merlin or eBird, both super simple to use. On desktop/laptop, use the eBird website. Check birdcount.org/participate for video instruction. Input a new checklist for each day, for each different location, or for the same location but at a different time or day. That's it.

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By counting birds in your yard and reporting the totals, you help scientists track bird populations and their fluctuations. Think your 20 or 30 yard birds don't matter? If 50 of you ignore the call to report, that's maybe 1,500 birds omitted from the data.

Of course, you can broaden your count beyond your yard. Report birds on your church or school campus, business park, roadways and railways, neighborhood parks, and other birding patches that you frequent and to which you have legal access.

Invite a friend to help spot the birds, introduce a youngster to a great outdoor activity, or challenge a competitive neighbor to compare counts.

It's an almost magical way to brighten our COVID-restricted lives.

Check Sharon Sorenson's website at birdsintheyard.com, follow daily bird activity on Facebook at SharonSorensonBirdLady, or email her at chshsoren@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Great Backyard Bird Count: Here's how to participate in February