(Orange-crowned Warbler, photographed by Ann Anderson)

Since we celebrate birds with great photo contributions almost every day on WSB, we want to mention this here in the news stream as well as on the Event Calendar – a free event this Sunday (February 16th):

“Fall in Love with 25 Seattle Birds”
2/16/2020 @ 1-3 pm
Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
4408 Delridge Way SW

Have you ever wondered what that little brown bird over there is? Or who on earth is singing so loudly outside your window at 4 a.m.? Do you consider yourself … bird curious?

Well, have we got a workshop for you!

Join Seattle Audubon and the Delridge Neighborhood Development Association to learn how to easily identify 25 common bird species right in your own backyard. You’ll learn to tell a Song Sparrow from a Dark-eyed Junco, and a Dark-eyed Junco from a Black-capped Chickadee. But that’s not all. We’ll discuss the cultural importance of Pacific Northwest birds to local tribes, threats to our feathered friends and what we can all do to protect them. Finally, we’ll end with a hands-on, in-the-field exercise that puts your new ID skills to use with the eBird community science mobile application. Participants will be challenged to continue practicing their new ID skills and eBird with the top contributor after a month receiving a special gift from Seattle Audubon!

Workshop leaders strongly recommend that participants download, install, and create an account with the eBird community science application on their smart phones prior to the workshop. Android users can download the app from Google Play. iPhone users can download the app from the App Store.

Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology developed and maintains eBird. The app allows users to track bird observations and links to resources to aid with bird identification. Observations contributed through eBird are used by researchers at Universities, the National Audubon Society, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and have resulted in dozens of peer-reviewed scientific studies that are helping resource managers understand and protect birds.

More info here; registration is NOT required but if you want to sign up, go here.