We birders are always looking for an excuse to do more birding. This is true even in the cold midwinter, at least up here in Maine. So you might be delighted to know that the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) starts on Friday, Feb. 15 and runs through Monday, Feb. 18.

When the GBBC started (last year, we remembered its birth in 1998 in a previous column), it was set up to encourage people to submit their counts of birds from the U.S. and Canada. Today, counts can be submitted from anywhere in the world! While the U.S. remains the leader in the number of checklists submitted every year (last year more than 110,000 checklists were submitted from the U.S.), Canada is a distant second (14,222 checklists in 2018)—but India seems poised to potentially overtake Canada in 2019. Last year 13,900 checklists were submitted from India and with a human population four times that of the U.S., they may even eventually compete with the U.S. for the top GBBC spot! Imagine how all that data might help guide conservation efforts in a country so populated.

Anyone (beginners welcome) can submit GBBC counts from anywhere, not just a backyard, during the four days that the event takes place. Participants are asked to do their counts for at least 15 minutes. Find more details and help in identifying birds at gbbc.birdcount.org

This year we here in Maine may have the chance to add cool birds like pine grosbeaks, bohemian waxwings, and common redpolls to our checklists - and the Great Backyard Bird Count database. Of course, we can also be happy just to count the black-capped chickadees coming to our feeders while we gaze at them from the kitchen window, warm and happy with a cup of hot coffee and a donut in hand.

We are feeling competitive this year and are hoping we can inspire more of you to participate. You see, Maine came in 27^th place last year for number of checklists submitted, with 1,293. That’s not bad and we did edge out Vermont and New Hampshire as well as New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. But we got walloped by Quebec, which checklists submitted almost twice as many checklists. Massachusetts, famous for having a high concentration of birders, not surprisingly, submitted almost three times as many checklists, but we think we can beat Connecticut, which out-reported Maine by about 500 checklists.

We can do this, folks! Especially since just about anywhere in this great state you can just glance out your window and see amazing birds. Our state has great potential - only six entire nations submitted more checklists than we did here in Maine. We even beat out Costa Rica!

Now, to get your competitive juices flowing even more, we need to point out that within Maine, Lincoln County came in seventh among counties last year for total checklists with 64 submitted. The top three - Cumberland, York, and Hancock counties - each had more 100 submissions.

Lincoln County birders, it is time to step up and bird! Or at least enjoy counting some birds for the Great Backyard Bird Count coming up Friday the 15^th through Monday the 18^th. Have fun, and go to gbbc.birdcount.org to submit your checklists.

Jeffrey V. Wells, Ph.D., is a Fellow of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Dr. Wells is one of the nation's leading bird experts and conservation biologists and author of “Birder’s Conservation Handbook”. His grandfather, the late John Chase, was a columnist for the Boothbay Register for many years. Allison Childs Wells, formerly of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is a senior director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, a nonprofit membership organization working statewide to protect the nature of Maine. Both are widely published natural history writers and are the authors of the book, “Maine’s Favorite Birds” by Tilbury House and “Birds of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao: A Site and Field Guide” from Cornell Press.