Gifted Atlanta

It’s a little late notice, but this weekend — including Monday — is the annual Great Backyard Bird Count, which gives ordinary folks the chance to help collect data on local bird populations. All you need to do is spend 15 minutes recording the number and types of birds you see in one location, then send your data to the scientists. Your work helps ornithologists study how bird populations are growing, declining, or changing their ranges.

If you’ve got a shutter-bug in your home, they can enter the GBBC photo contest by sending in a picture by March 1.

If this weekend just won’t work for your young bird watcher — or if one weekend a year isn’t enough — you can count birds anytime using eBird, which collects data from all over the world for ornithologists, educators, and conservation biologists.