Gardeners and birds share more than the same real estate and a mutual interest in insect control.
There is a kind of companionship between the human on the ground and the creature in the tree that grows out of the time they spend together in the garden, moving cautiously around one another.
At some point, the gardener starts to think of ways to accommodate his slightly standoffish friends, with a feeder or a birdbath, or by planting perennials or shrubs that can be shelter or a source of food.
"Bird-watchers are into birds, and that's pretty much it," said Steve Saffier, who helps homeowners create bird-friendly yards through the Audubon at Home program. "But gardeners are different. Regardless of their focus - orchids or native plants - they have an interest in watching things grow and thrive, and a curiosity about the natural world that leads them to birds."
"Part of the joy of being in the garden," said Dr. Stephen Kress, vice president for bird conservation for the National Audubon Society, "is hearing the bird song and seeing the birds." So, it is likely that a great many of the participants in next weekend's Great Backyard Bird Count will be gardeners.
For four days over Presidents Day weekend, Friday-Feb. 16, more than 85,000 reports are expected to flow into the Web site birdcount.org, helping create a real-time picture of where the birds are across the North American continent.
The information - there were 250,000 birds and 162 species counted in Maryland last year - is used to help scientists make conservation decisions and track migrations and the impact of climate change.
"It will eventually be a good index for climate change," said Kress. "If there is less snow, birds won't have to go as far south to find clear ground. Birds will tell us as much as the weather forecasters about where the snow is."
Anybody can go to the site to see which birds were found in his or her state or even neighborhood. But if you want to take part, "you only need 15 minutes and not a lot of experience," said Kress, noting that 9.8 million birds were counted last year. "Our hope is that, from this, people will get engaged in other bird projects."
This is the 12th year of the bird count, which is sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, and from it, scientists have seen both alarming and gratifying trends in bird populations, and even found some new species visiting North America.
