The 11th annual Great Backyard Bird Count will be through Friday, February 15-Monday, February 18. Count birds for as little as 15 minutes on one or more days of the count. Keep track  of the highest number of each species you see at any one time (to avoid counting the same birds twice.) Enter your tallies on the Great Backyard Bird Count web site, www.birdcount.org, then explore the observations coming in from all over the view the photography. You can also shoot bird video during the count and upload to YouTube with the tag "Great Backyard Bird Count." Some  of the best ones will be placed on the GBBC web site.

By collecting this data at the same time each year, over a  wide area, changes in bird populations and distribution can be studied. All the  observations go into a worldwide database.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the  National Audubon Society.