Doing Our Civic Duty

Brain cancer is...

 ...participating in the world.

Darrell and I were active citizens in a couple ways today.

First, we voted in the primary election by absentee ballot (above).  Come on, voters!  Let's do this!

Second, we prepared for one of our favorite undertakings:  Citizen science. 

Citizen science is when members of the general public collect and submit data about the natural world to some larger effort.  It's not that unusual.  Every time we use our Merlin Bird ID app to report a bird sighting, for instance, we contribute to Cornell Lab's database about the number and distribution of species near us.  Which brings us to the point:

We are ready for the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)!  Every February since 1998, people have spent 15 minutes (or more) counting the birds they see and reporting them as part of the GBBC.

According to the GBBC homepage, in the 2019 count, people in more than 100 countries identified 6,800+ species of birds.  

Ready?  Let's try it with an image from the park today.  How many birds?

Yes, five birds.  Good job!  You're ready for February 14 and the Great Backyard Bird Count!  You can count birds for 15 minutes (or more) wherever you are, any time during  2/14-2/17.

Today we read the GBBC homepage (get started here),  downloaded the app, and are ready to count!

Why it matters:  Did you know that the number of birds in North American skies has decreased by nearly a third since the '70s?  Birds are literally disappearing.  (here) 

Citizen Science projects--like the GBBC--helps scientists answer questions such as:

• How will climate change affect bird populations?
• How are bird diseases affecting birds in different places? 

It feels good to be part of this world.  We're glad we're in it together!