A very brief note that the annual Great Backyard Bird Count is this weekend, February 17-20th. This citizen science event is put on by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and National Audubon Society. The premise is quite simple: identify the birds you see and hear at a location (could be your backyard, a local park), count them and keep track of how long you were birding, and enter the data on their website. With tens of thousands of people participating, the GBBC gives a powerful snapshot of late winter bird populations, especially those close to where people live.