Getting the rarities and outback birds onto the Great Backyard Bird Count

If you are out birding this weekend, you might like to add your observations to the Great Backyard Bird Count ( http://gbbc.birdcount.org/about/ ) Currently Australia is coming fourth in relation to the number of species seen (330 from 143 checklists). We are behind the United States (535 species from 11,908 checklists), India (440 species from 860 checklists) and Mexico (349 species from 45 checklists). Within Australia, Queensland (177 species) and Roy Sonnenberg (91 species) and the Anstead Bushland Reserve are at the top of their respective leagues. There aren’t many Birding Aus regulars in the top 20 Australian participants so far. Pelagic, outback and unusual bird sightings are likely to be most helpful in getting the Australian total above the US by the end of the counting period. Regards, Laurie.