The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) was celebrated around the world last month. An annual four-day event, the GBBC encourages birders of all ages to go into their “backyards” to count birds. This global bird census creates a worldwide bird snapshot.
TTF invited the Vaird Boys & Girls Club to join us for the GBBC this year. We spent an afternoon empowering students as community scientists by teaching them about local birds and then taking a walk with them to collect bird count data.
On our walk, we counted four American Crows and an American Kestrel. So far 123,197 checklists have been submitted, more then 3,000 total species were observed, and more then 26 million individual birds were counted. It’s especially exciting that this was the first year that GBBC was an international event!
The program was a success in many ways. First, kids got involved in a project that was bigger than just them — this was an international census and the data they collected about Philadelphia will be used by bird scientists around the world! Second, these young naturalists explored Tacony Creek Park, their own local green space.
TTF’s is committed to providing positive programming in and around Tacony Creek Park. By inviting the Boys & Girls Club to partner with us on the GBBC, we encouraged students to see their local park as a place for positive exploration.
To learn more about our events in Tacony Creek Park, visit our Upcoming Events page.
For more GBBC event pictures, visit TTF’s Flickr.
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