WFSU Local Routes
Great Backyard Bird Count at Pebble Hill
Join us at Pebble Hill Plantation on Saturday, February 13 to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count! Bring your entire family and enjoy exploring Pebble Hill’s main grounds while participating in this worldwide online citizen science project. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts, and help collect important data on our local wild bird populations. Just watch and count as many birds as you can for at least 15 minutes, then submit your findings. From 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., Pebble Hill staff will be available at the Visitors’ Center to loan binoculars and birding field guides and to show participants how to enter their scientific data. Grounds admission fee is required to participate: Adults – $5.50; Children (2-12 years) – $2.00; Children under 2 years – FREE. For more information on the Great Backyard Bird Count, visit: www.birdcount.org
The Great Backyard Bird Count is an inter-organizational effort between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, and Birds Canada. Details
By Mary Forgione
When you email “The Goatfather” of goat surfing, he writes back: “Goat ahead and call me.” Pismo Beach surfer Dana McGregor has been teaching surfing and stand-up paddle boarding with and without goats for a decade. He started by taking his pet goat Goatee with him when he hit the waves. What’s it like to surf with a goat? “It’s quite a supernatural, like, out-of-this-world experience to be honest,” the 42-year-old said. This hilarious GoatFIT video shows him doing squats with goats, weight-lifting with goats, you get the idea (please, don’t try this at home).
Northern Cardinal by Deborah Bifulco. Courtesy Backyard Bird Count-
HOLLAND, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) The 24th annual Great Backyard Bird Count is this weekend, February 12 through February 15.
One of the most pandemic-friendly activities has to be birdwatching it’s outside, though you can watch the birds from a window in the warmth of home or office and, you’re focused on nature.
Bird count organizers are encouraging everyone, from budding birdwatchers to veteran birders to take some notes and maybe a photo or two, says Zeeland bird watcher Jan Meeuwsen. (Listen to the full interview.)
“They only ask you to sit and count birds twice during that four-day period, 15 to 20 minutes at a time,” she said. “When you sign up, they’ll give you a little cheat sheet, what birds you’re likely to see, so you can kind of go back to those pictures. And, honestly, if you don’t know what a bird (species) is, just kind of describe it: “brown head, white streaks.” That’s fine.