ORD – The 2023 Great Backyard Bird Count will be landing, as its name suggests, right in Custer County’s backyard.
The four-day, international collaborative effort between Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and the National Audubon Society, has found a new nest, courtesy of the Lower Loup Natural Resources District’s arboretum in Ord.
Between 10 a.m. and noon on Saturday, February 18, all community members, from the casual beak peekers to the most ornithologically riveted, will have a chance to lend their eyes to the ongoing project.
LLNRD Information and Education Coordinator and father of Ord’s Backyard Bird Count Alan Bartels credit the inspiration for bringing the count to Ord to a natural, daily engagement with the space surrounding the district’s home base.
“We’ve got this 11-acre arboretum adjacent to our headquarters here in Ord, and I walk it every morning, and then I walk it every day at lunch, and sometimes even after work. It’s full of different wildlife species; it’s just a great, convenient place to do this.”
This February will mark the backyard count’s 25th birthday, but only its second in Valley County. Bartels explains that the project of tallying bird species is not only a low-stress way to get some fresh air in the colder months but contributes important data to the scientific community.
“It’s one of those ‘citizen-science’ deals where everyone can make an observation of what wildlife is in their backyards, and that’s important data to have for the future with talks of climate change and habitat alteration. Citizen scientists can provide data that we can look back on and see if we have more or less of a given species.”
For citizen scientists afraid of a frozen, bird-less two-hour trudge, Bartels says that species including non-birds are more than abundant, according to last year’s count.
“I just saw a Cooper’s hawk out here the other morning. There are foxes, deer, rabbits, and squirrels of course, and Canada geese flying overhead all the time. Last year when we had this event, participants saw 20 different species in the 2 hours.”
Bartels says the self-guided walk will feature hot chocolate and coffee for warming all birders, as well as some handy assistance for those who can’t tell an oriole from a Ripken.
“We’ll have some guides and some books available, so if people aren’t sure what they see, we’ll look it up and figure it out.”
Neither registration nor cost is required to participate in this year’s count; LLNRD’s arboretum is linked by trail systems to several other parks around Ord, which provides citizen scientists plenty of time and space to make observations during Saturday’s count and beyond.
