Mar 24, 2015 2 min read

Marjorie Howard of Waynesburg was the program presenter at the March meeting of the Town and Country Garden Club.

Howard is president and founder of the Ralph K. Bell Bird Club of Greene County. The club was organized in October 2006 to honor Ralph K. Bell for his conservation work spanning 80 years.

Howard shared her 20 years of experience in her program “Bird Count.”

The bird count is done by volunteers referred to as “citizen scientists.” Much of the data collected is incorporated into the national global bird data banks of national Audubon Society and Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a branch of zoology dealing with birds.

Other projects incorporating the collected data are: Pennsylvania migration count, breeding bird survey, winter raptor survey, important bird areas, Christmas bird count, Project Feeder Watch and Great Backyard Bird Count.

Practice is essential to make the most of your bird-counting skills, and the more you watch birds, the better you are able to be sure your count is accurate, Howard said.

Since counting each individual bird can be a challenge, birding with more experienced people can be helpful in identifying a bird and in learning bird sounds.

Other essentials include: keeping a bird log, jotting down all you can while observing the bird and looking in a bird book to help with identification.

Club members participated in a bird count by looking at photos of groups of birds and trying to get an accurate count in a short period of time.

Members also viewed pictures of various birds and learned how to look for identifying features.

Howard conducts various birding tours and is involved in bird-banding projects. Call her at 724-984-2421 or e-mail to rkbbirdclub@yahoo.com.

It was announced that the annual Enlow Fork Extravaganza Bird and Flower Walk will be held April 26.