By Jean Zirnhelt | Weminuche Audubon Society
Join bird enthusiasts worldwide on Saturday, May 13, in celebrating the birds that share our lives. Two events mark these yearly celebrations held on the second Saturday of May.
Global Big Day is an online event organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. By participating in Global Big Day, you can be a member of the world’s largest birding team. Last year, people from 201 countries submitted checklists of the birds they identified on this day. Between midnight and midnight on May 13, you can travel to a favorite bird viewing spot or participate from your own backyard. Spend as little as 10 minutes or the whole day keeping track of bird numbers.
Documentations including where, when and how you identified birds, and the species and numbers of each you observed are entered on ebird.org, a platform used by millions of birders across the globe. Here citizen-generated data becomes an invaluable tool used by scientists in understanding how birds are reacting to changes in the environment. For detailed information, visit ebird.org/globalbigday.
Also celebrated on May 13 is World Migratory Bird Day, bringing to attention the challenges that birds face on their journeys to and from breeding areas and the need for cooperation across the globe. Habitat needs must be met not only in breeding areas, but also in areas where birds spend their winters.
The theme of this year’s Migratory Bird Day is the importance of water in sustaining bird life. Drought, development, pollution and climate change are some of the stressors that impact this critical resource. This is a call to action to protect this life-sustaining resource.
Members of the Weminuche Audubon Society invite you to join us on Saturday, May 13, at 8 a.m. to see what birds we find at Lake Capote Recreation Area, located just south of U.S. 160 on Colo. 151. Lake Capote is owned by the Southern Ute Tribe and a $5 entrance fee is charged. For more information, email weminuche.audubon@gmail.com.
