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Some of the photos started coming in from Thailand. A couple popped up from India and a handful from Nicaragua. The Herald’s own John Karratti started keeping count and sent in a number of photos from Bear Creek over in Cumberland. Overall, officials say this year’s Great Bird Count (GBC) was a success. 

It happens every year, both here and now across the world. Residents head outside and over the course of four days, start keeping track of how many birds they see and what types. You’re asked to pick a spot and dedicate yourself to birdwatching for at least 15 minutes, if not more, each day over the span of four days.

“Because of its wide range of habitats that support many bird species, Bear Creek Lake State Park is the perfect place to go birding,” park officials said in a statement. 

They shared details on the hundreds of birds that call Bear Creek home, be it for a season or year-round. On the year-round side, they pointed to wild turkeys, mallards, wood ducks, red-shouldered hawks, red-tailed hawks, barred owls, eastern screech owls and great horned owls, among several dozen. Over the winter months, they’ve had visits from 22 different types of birds, including the hooded merganser, ruddy ducks, pied-billed grebes, horned grebes, the American coot, a ring-billed gull and sharp-shinned hawk. We’ll have a full list of all the birds found at Bear Creek, both year-round and in one season or another, linked to this story on our website. Bear Creek officials said they keep tabs on birds that come and go throughout the year. 

“This checklist was developed from inventories and observations conducted in the park,” park officials said in a statement. “Through conservation and management efforts to protect habitats, birds will have a place to call home at Bear Creek Lake State Park. As park managers continue to adapt programs to benefit the coexistence of people and birds, we can expect to see a diversity of birds flying over.” 

How did GBC get started? 

So this was a community science project from the start. Created in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, the Great Bird County was the first online operation of its time, asking just ordinary people to go outside in their backyard, to a park or lake and collect data on wild birds. 

It started in the U.S., then Canadian groups joined in 2009 and in 2013, the project went global, with people sharing from more than half of the world’s countries. All total, 7,899 different types of birds have been identified in the 2024 edition, from 253 cities, counties and towns across the globe.