The deadline for entering observations in the Great Backyard Bird Count is Feb 28

If you have been birding during 13-16 Feb, you have until 28 Feb to log your sightings at http://gbbc.birdcount.org When I last checked 510 species had been logged for “mainland” Australia (744 checklists) – 524 species when observations from Norfolk and Christmas Island were observed. In comparison 661 species were logged in the United States from 98,974 checklists 704 species were logged in India from 5664 checklists 609 species were logged in Mexico from 357 checklists and 711 species were logged in Ecuador from just 103 checklists. Clearly Ecuador is the best place to go birding I would say that the US list is close to the max possible. The Australian list is a far bit below what is possible – mostly because there are few birders reporting from outside of the ecumene (a geographical term for the settled part of Australia). Roy Sonnenburg was the top observer in Australia with 132 species. The top observers in the other leading countries were 301 species in India, 287 species in Ecuador, 199 species in Brazil and 179 species in Mexico. You can check the Australian bird list at http://ebird.org/ebird/gbbc/country/AU?yr=all (some of the species names are different from the Australian convention) If you observed a species during 13-16 Feb that isn’t on the list, you have until the end of the month to log it. Regards, Laurie.