Photo by Errol Taskin

Our latest Nature Talk was on the topic of Project FeederWatch and participating in conservation work as close to home as their own back yard. Julia Barkely, a long-time participant in the program, gave a captivating presentation on her experiences with FeederWatch.

This topic was chosen because conservation work is often thought of as something left to professionals and organizations. However, we wanted to show that there are meaningful ways for individuals to contribute to conservation efforts.

Project FeederWatch is an excellent example of such a project. It encourages people to count, identify and report the birds that visit their backyard over winter so that conservation biologists can track the populations and migration patterns of various bird species in North America.

The project is easy to participate in and it is very rewarding. Julia Barkley explained that she was thankful for the opportunity to notice nature that FeederWatch gave her. She told us the project is a fun activity that her whole family shares and learns from – they were even able to rescue a stranded duck! She also described a time when her  granddaughter, who is hard of hearing, was at their home and, because there were so many songbirds singing, she was able to hear the birds.

FeederWatch runs from November until early April. However, you can continue to feed, watch and learn about birds throughout the summer as well.