What Does the GBBC Have to Do With Climate Change?
You don鈥檛 have to be a bird expert to help our feathered friends fight climate change. Here鈥檚 why.
It鈥檚 tough being a novice birder, especially when you work at 探花精选. At a recent / winter sparrow workshop, I was floored when attendees could tell a Song Sparrow from a Savannah Sparrow 鈥 mid-flight!
Me, I count it as a 鈥渨in鈥 to spot them in my field of vision.
Thankfully, you don鈥檛 have to be an expert to make a difference. Case in point: I鈥檓 a climate change gal, not a bird nerd. Before joining 探花精选, my birding experience was limited to counting hummingbirds at my grandfather鈥檚 feeder and donning Cardinals sports paraphernalia. My professional life revolved around helping people understand global warming, from the extreme weather to the possible public health implications.
So what does climate change have to do with birds? A lot鈥斕交ň science shows climate change is the biggest threat to North American birds. (I came to 探花精选 last summer to help launch our , the organization鈥檚 response to the news.) No group is better placed than 探花精选 to take action on climate change, and no network is better prepared to help.
Friday marks the beginning of the 18th annual (GBBC), a global citizen science effort that helps collect important data on bird behavior. This event, along with the Christmas Bird Count and community-based citizen science everywhere, offers everyone an opportunity to help the birds with whom they share a home and community.
With the pace and scale of the threat so startling ( and could, without action, go extinct thanks to climate change), it鈥檚 hard to believe that individual actions lead up to change.
Yet citizen science, including the GBBC, is the foundation on which we build our conservation strategies to protect birds in a warming world. Without this kind of citizen science data, we wouldn鈥檛 know that birds as widespread as the or the are already moving their ranges in response to climate change. We wouldn鈥檛 know that the differences in bird communities you see at your backyard feeders are likely the result of global warming.
Because it doesn鈥檛 matter whether you can tell a Field Sparrow from a Fox Sparrow (though I鈥檓 getting better!), you can still help out. As key indicators for how warmer temperatures are changing our world, birds are critical messengers. Counting them this weekend helps spread that message. Hopefully, we鈥檒l hear it in time to help.