COLUMN: Bird count/open house event set

   Mark your calendars and plan to attend the Central Park Nature Center Open House and Great Backyard Bird Count event on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12-13. Sign up your family for a time slot to view exhibits, learn about the Great Backyard Bird Count, and make your own bird feeder to take home.

     Open House time slots daily are 10-11:15 a.m., 11;30 a.m.-12:45 p.m., 1-2:15 p.m. and 2:30-3:45 p.m. Due to COVID 19 precautions we are limiting time slots to one family group per time slot.  High touch points will be cleaned between time slots. Those entering the Nature Center are requested to wear facemasks. Pre-registration is required.  Please contact naturalist@jonescountiowa.gov or call or text 319-481-7987.

     When visiting the Nature Center each family will receive a door prize, make a suet log feeder (one per family) and pinecone birdfeeders to take home, learn how to identify some of Iowa’s most common winter birds, and learn how to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count as you observe birds at the Nature Centers feeders.

     Since its beginning in 1998, by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, people of all ages and birding abilities worldwide have participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count to help create a snapshot of bird distributions and abundance. In 2020 a new website was designed to make participation easier, clearer, and more inspiring!

     Participation in the Worldwide Great Backyard Bird Count, which runs Feb. 12-16, takes only 15 minutes at a minimum.  Anyone can participate from any location around the world! Last year 268,674 GBBC participants counted birds in over 194 countries, documenting 6,942 species of birds.

     You can count birds in your backyard, city park, outside your office window, in your schoolyard, or at a county or state park or wildlife area near you. You don’t even have to be a seasoned “birdwatcher” to participate.  The GBBC website (https://www.birdcount.org/) provides wonderful resources for aiding in bird identification and checking out what birds have been recorded near you. Everyone can participate.

     I encourage families and school classes to count our birds. Learn about the birds in your neighborhood, communities, and state. Be a part of worldwide citizen science. It’s easy and fun!