BIRD COUNT: The 20th annual Great Backyard Bird Count is coming up next month.

From Feb. 17 through 20, bird-watchers across the world will be keeping tabs of the feathered visitors that cross their paths. The project began in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society.

To participate, count the birds you see for at least 15 minutes during the four-day count and report what you see at birdcount.org. Anyone can participate for free, and you may count for as long you wish.

Participation is easy, but you will have to have internet access and create a free account.

“Each checklist submitted during the GBBC helps researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society learn more about how birds birds are doing, and how to protect them and the environment we share,” stated the National Audubon Society.

There is also a bird photo contest held in conjunction with the count.

According to the society, in 2016, “More than 160,000 participants from more than 130 countries submitted their bird observations over the four days of the count; this was the most detailed four-day snapshot of global bird populations ever undertaken.

“Between Friday, February 12, and Monday February 15, 2016, participants reported 5,689 species including 665 species in the United States.”

The birds that the most people spotted in last year’s count, starting with the most spotted, were the dark-eyed junco, the northern cardinal, the mourning dove, the downy woodpecker, the blue jay, the American goldfinch, the house finch, the tufted titmouse, the black-capped chickadee and the American crow.

NEW YEAR: Today is the celebration of the Chinese New Year. For anyone interested, this year will be the Year of the Rooster.