APSU to hold Great Backyard Bird Count event, February 19th

Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University (APSU) is inviting the public to campus to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count, an international citizen science project to monitor and track birds.

The family-focused event will start at 10:30am on Saturday, February 19th, at the Outdoor Education Center (530 York Street) on campus.

The day will include:

• Informational booths on how to make your backyard more attractive to birds.
• Expert tips on identifying birds.
• Limited pinecone feeder crafts.
• A short bird walk (about 2/3 of a mile) at 11:30am at Austin Peay State University’s entry to the Clarksville Greenway (at Robb Avenue and Farris Street near the outdoor education center).

Participants should bring binoculars and download the eBird mobile app before arriving. Free parking is available along York Street and in parking lot No. 2 at Forbes and Robb avenues.

APSU’s event is part of the Great Backyard Bird Count, an annual international bird count that encourages communities to log the birds they see in their community over the course of three days, February 18th-21st. The bird count is a project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, and Birds Canada and is in its 25^th year.

Participants count birds for any length of time (but at least 15 minutes) and report what they see online. The count is accessible to people of all skill levels. About 300,000 people reported 6,436 species last year.

Austin Peay State University’s bird count event is sponsored by APSU’s Community Engagement & Sustainability office and the Center of Excellence for Field Biology.

Representatives from those offices also are visiting third-, fourth- and fifth-graders at Moore Magnet Elementary School earlier in the week to teach the students about birds, including how to feed and identify birds and their habitats. The school’s fifth-graders will learn how to use binoculars.

APSU’s Outdoor Education Center, adjacent to 529 York Street, has terraced seating and a presentation stage nestled among the wooded area between a low ropes course and the SOS Victory Gardens.

For more information, email Alexandra Wills, director of APSU’s Community Engagement & Sustainability, at willsa@apsu.edu or visit www.apsu.edu/volunteer/oec.