If you’re looking for a brief break from the news of all of the environmental assaults coming out of Tallahassee this year, you might want to get outdoors and clear your head this weekend and do some citizen science.
That will involve participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count, which runs from Friday to Monday anywhere you can see birds.
This is a mid-winter bird survey started 25 years ago. It is intended to gather data on the status of resident and migrant bird species. It is one of the annual surveys that gives scientists data on population and distribution trends. One interesting question is how climate change is affecting the distribution trends over the years.
Anyone can participate, but to submit data you will need to create an account on eBird, an international database for bird observations.