Anyone else feeling particularly ‘birdy’ this time of year? Right on the heels of another fabulous April with our Earth Day Service and Dirt Communion, here we are in May, smack dab in the middle of the bird breeding season. Part of living harmoniously in the interdependent web of all existence is learning more about the biodiversity all around us!
So, this month, 7PEAT wanted to drop some bird knowledge… and an invitation. You might be surprised to know that Ventura County is home, for part or all of the year, to over 300 species of birds! The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which is a treasure trove of user-friendly information about our feathered friends, sponsors an event on May 5 called Global Big Day, when birdwatchers (‘birders’, for short) around the world scramble to observe as many species as possible in 24 hours.
You don’t have to be an expert or spend hours hiking to participate! Last year, more than 20,000 birders contributed sightings from 160+ countries, totaling 6,637 bird species! Simply go to eBird to learn how to join the fun, or (and here’s the invitation) come out with Mark Mendelsohn (mmendels33@gmail.com), a wildlife biologist, on el Cinco de Mayo, Global Big Day. If that day doesn’t work for you, let’s go out another time!
The local bird nesting season will wrap up by mid-summer, however you can see great birds year-round in Ventura County, all the way through December’s Christmas Bird Count and February’s Great Backyard Bird Count. Come on outside, and enjoy our avian beauties… for the more we learn about Earth’s biodiversity, the more we will appreciate it, and the more likely we will work to conserve it!
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