Are cardinals becoming more plentiful? Are sparrows becoming scarce? We need your help to find out.

Every year, the third weekend of February brings the Great Backyard Bird Count. This nationwide bird watching extravaganza is dedicated to counting every bird in sight to find out how resident bird populations are doing. Thanks to people just like you, bird populations have been carefully monitored and programs established to help declining populations.

If you haven’t done this before, this is the time to break out your binoculars. Get started by visiting the website for this event at www.birdsource.org/gbbc. Register you and your family and get tips on where to find birds, how to attract them and how to count them. Or join in a bird count at a local organization. The Chattahoochee Nature Center is a great place to count birds and we will have bird brained activities all month for you to enjoy.

Even if you don’t know a robin from a crow, you can enjoy bird watching with your family. Make toilet paper tube binoculars with your children and don’t forget to decorate them (it makes them more powerful.) Get your camera out and take some photos that you can use to identify the birds that you saw. Create a counting contest to see who can count the most black birds, red birds, brown birds and blue birds. Incorporate a little math and graph how many you saw.

Want an extra reward for all of your work? Bring your bird counts, bird photos, graphs or anything showing that you participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count to the Nature Exchange at the Chattahoochee Nature Center and receive extra trading points. Don’t forget, the Nature Exchange cannot accept anything for trade that came from a bird so be sure to leave feathers, nests and eggs at home. For more information about this and other fun activities in the Nature Exchange, visit us at chattnaturecenter.org/nature-exchange.

Now get out there and count some birds!