Citizen Scientist
by Susan M. Brackney
photo by Kaley from Kansas
Here’s to all your future gatherings! We at the FAR Center for Contemporary Arts care deeply for our community and we are here for you during these uncertain times. Contact our coordinators at events@thefar.org or weddings@thefar.org to plan and imagine your event at FAR. events.thefar.org 812.336.0006
Pandemic or No Pandemic
The 121st Bird Count Goes On! The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected our day-to-day lives. It may be influencing citizen science, too. Case in point? During lockdown periods, there were fewer cars on the road and less traffic noise as a result. Those quieter streets actually helped to put nature—especially birds— back on our collective radar. People increasingly noticed birds and their accompanying songs, which sounded louder in the quiet. As Elizabeth P. Derryberry and colleagues, writing in September 2020’s Science magazine, noted, “Despite a reduction in song amplitude, communication distance more than doubled during the shutdown, further indicating the impact of noise pollution on communication during normal conditions.” The signal-to-noise ratio also doubled in relative energy. In other words? With less background noise cluttering up the soundscape, the “signal”—in this case the birds’ calls—had more oomph. “A doubling [in the signal-to-noise ratio] would allow people to hear birds at twice the previous distance, or effectively four times more birds than usual,” the authors explain. And a recent study in The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health suggests the pandemic has also affected the behavior of birdwatchers. For instance, people are birding closer to home, and former “weekend warriors” now birdwatch all week.
Citizen Science Persists
Although we’re still very much in the throes of a pandemic, some citizen science projects are adapting to the new normal as best as they can. Monday, December 14, 2020, marks the beginning of the National 52 Bloom | December 2020/January 2021 | magbloom.com
Audubon Society’s 121st Christmas Bird Count. Volunteers act as avian census takers, counting every bird they see or hear within a pre-designated, 15-mile diameter circle. The annual event runs through January 5, and, locally, the Monroe County Christmas Bird Count (part of the Audubon count) will still take place—albeit with some modifications. “We usually have a potluck dinner afterwards where we not only share dinner, but we find out from all of the different subteams what birds they’ve seen during the day,” notes retired IU biology professor Jim Hengeveld. But they’ll be sans potluck this year, instead sharing their results through email. Carpooling to the Lake Monroe counting site is also out. “For many of us who subdivide that territory and spread out, [this year] won’t be that much different,” Hengeveld says. “There will just be fewer instances where people are birding as a group.” (Email jhengeve@iu.edu for details.)
More Birding Options
The Great Backyard Bird Count is another census project about to take flight. For at least 15 minutes between February 12 and 15, participants count the number and types of birds appearing in their own yards. Researchers use the pooled data to track the range and abundance of different bird species in near real-time. Rather not be confined to a specific birding period or location? You can enter your birding results via eBird—an online data collection portal—24/7. To start, visit ebird.org/home, create an account, and complete the “eBird Essentials Course.”
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