Great Bird Count at Bear Creek Lake State Park
Published 6:16 pm Saturday, March 9, 2024
- Photo by John Karratti
Some of the images began coming in from Thailand. A pair popped up from India and a handful from Nicaragua. The Herald’s personal John Karratti began protecting rely and despatched in various images from Bear Creek over in Cumberland. Overall, officers say this yr’s Great Bird Count (GBC) was successful.
It occurs yearly, each right here and now internationally. Residents head exterior and over the course of 4 days, begin protecting observe of what number of birds they see and what sorts. You’re requested to select a spot and dedicate your self to birdwatching for a minimum of quarter-hour, if no more, every day over the span of 4 days.
Photo by John Karratti
“Because of its wide range of habitats that support many bird species, Bear Creek Lake State Park is the perfect place to go birding,” park officers stated in a press release.
They shared particulars on the a whole lot of birds that decision Bear Creek home, be it for a season or year-round. On the year-round aspect, they pointed to wild turkeys, mallards, wooden geese, red-shouldered hawks, red-tailed hawks, barred owls, japanese screech owls and nice horned owls, amongst a number of dozen. Over the winter months, they’ve had visits from 22 several types of birds, together with the hooded merganser, ruddy geese, pied-billed grebes, horned grebes, the American coot, a ring-billed gull and sharp-shinned hawk. We’ll have a full checklist of all of the birds discovered at Bear Creek, each year-round and in a single season or one other, linked to this story on our web site. Bear Creek officers stated they hold tabs on birds that come and go all year long.
“This checklist was developed from inventories and observations conducted in the park,” park officers stated in a press release. “Through conservation and management efforts to protect habitats, birds will have a place to call home at Bear Creek Lake State Park. As park managers continue to adapt programs to benefit the coexistence of people and birds, we can expect to see a diversity of birds flying over.”
Photo by John Karratti
How did GBC get began?
So this was a neighborhood science challenge from the beginning. Created in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, the Great Bird County was the primary on-line operation of its time, asking simply unusual folks to go exterior of their yard, to a park or lake and acquire information on wild birds.
It began within the U.S., then Canadian teams joined in 2009 and in 2013, the challenge went international, with folks sharing from greater than half of the world’s nations. All complete, 7,899 several types of birds have been recognized within the 2024 version, from 253 cities, counties and cities throughout the globe.
Photo by John Karratti
