EAST ALTON, IL – The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRRECsm) invites members of the community to take part in The Great Backyard Bird Count, an annual global event designed to better understand global bird populations and their annual migrations.

The event will be held on NGRREC’s green roof from 1-5 p.m., Friday, Feb. 12. The roof provides great views of the river, as well as a safe place to be socially distanced. The building’s interior will remain closed.

Last year, 250,000 participants from around the world identified nearly 7,000 bird species.

“Visitors will have the chance to work with NGRREC staff to identify and count bird species,” Environmental Educator Jen Young said. “Staff will keep track of this information and submit the bird list at the end of the event.”

Participants are asked to bring binoculars of they have them and masks will be required.

In advance of The Great Backyard Bird Count, the Audubon Center at Riverlands will host a virtual training event via Facebook Live at 4 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 10. The training event link can be found on their Facebook page.

The Great Backyard Bird Count runs Feb. 12-15. Those unable to attend the NGRREC event can participate on their own. More information is available at www.birdcount.org/participate/.

For more information, contact Young at (618) 468-2785 or jenryoung@lc.edu.