GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — There are few things quite as peaceful as sipping your morning coffee while looking out the window at a bird feeder, busy with your feathered neighbors. And while watching birds is certainly beneficial to your mental health, your observations could also help make a major environmental impact.
For more than a century, the national Audubon Society has conducted its Christmas Bird Count between Dec. 14 and January 5. The Grand Rapids Audubon Club helps out by organizing localized bird counts here in West Michigan.
"Because it's been going on for so long, scientists have a really good understanding of how population levels have changed over the years. And they can then use that information that's collected by normal people to influence conservation decisions," said Spencer High with the Grand Rapids Audubon Club.
The information collected during bird counts goes way beyond simply protecting birds. Birds respond quickly to changes in their environments. And because of that, monitoring bird populations can provide conservation scientists with valuable information about the overall health of natural ecosystems in our communities.
High says it's also a lot of fun for people involved in the counts.
"It's a great way for people to get outside in the winter time and explore their public parks and places like that," he said.
"While you're out there, you see all sorts of different things and it makes you really appreciate how cool West Michigan can be from an ecological standpoint and it makes you just amazed at the world that we live in. It's so interesting the amount of cool things you can just see in your own backyard."
You don't need to be an expert to participate in the Christmas Bird Count. It will start with a meet and greet at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 30 at the Wittenbach Wege Nature Center at 11715 Vergennes Street SE in Lowell. From there, people will be split into teams to count birds in different parts of the area.
High will be leading a bird count at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids at 9 a.m. that day.
If you can't make the Christmas Bird Count, you can report your own bird lists on a website called eBird, run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. You can also follow the Grand Rapids Audubon Club's Facebook page to stay up-to-date with all the events they'll have going on in the future.
"We bring in speakers to talk about all sorts of different things, not only relating to birds, but just science and nature and conservation. It's a fun group of people, and we have a good time," High said.
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