• Birders tally 'huge' numbers in global count

    Pamela Wertz

    The American goldfinch is one of the 3,144 species counted in this year's Great Backyard Bird Count, which went global for the first time.

    By John Roach, Contributing Writer, NBC News

    Birdwatchers counted more than 25.5 million birds during the largest worldwide bird count ever conducted, according to preliminary results streaming in from the four-day event held earlier this month.

    The global Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) builds on the success of the program run for 15 years in the U.S. and Canada. More than 120,000 checklists have been reported, accounting for 3,144 species. That’s a third of the world’s birds, and results will flow in until March 1.

    Jennifer Taggart

    The Northern Cardinal is one of the five most reported species in the Great Backyard Bird Count.

    "It was huge," Geoff LeBaron, an ornithologist with the National Audubon Society, told NBC News. The conservation group helps coordinate the bird count with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada.

    "In one year, you really can’t say too much aside from the fantastic statistics about the involvement and the number of birds and the checklists and all that, which is just phenomenal," he added. In years to come, though, the data should help scientists learn about the health of bird populations.

    Among the highlights from this year’s count was the sighting of the colorful crested Northern Lapwing in several sites along the eastern seaboard. The bird is native to Europe and was likely blown across the Atlantic Ocean in the same weather patterns that generated superstorm Sandy.

    "It wasn’t necessarily Sandy that caused lapwings to get here, but more the weather patterns that made Sandy move where it did because it made that weird left hook and suddenly it landed right on New Jersey/New York," LeBaron said.

    Birders in Vancouver, Canada, are aflutter over the sighting of a single Red-flanked Bluetail, a little thrush native to Asia. Its Canadian appearance has attracted bird watchers from all over North America hoping to catch a glimpse of the rarity with striking blue tail, according to Audubon.

    Most importantly, said LeBaron, the new global nature of the GBCC is proving a great tool to get people outside enjoying nature and collecting data that will eventually help scientists learn more about birds.

    "It can give them that spark that may lead to a lifetime of watching birds and getting involved in conservation," he said.

    John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, check out his website. 

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  • Coastal living a bummer with climate change, report says

    Seth Wenig / AP

    This file photo shows homes destroyed by Superstrom Sandy fronting the beach in the Rockaways section of New York.

    By John Roach, Contributing Writer, NBC News

    For anyone who lives in a coastal region of the U.S. — and about half of the population does — climate change is already making life harder. And the bad news is, it's only going to get worse as the sea level rises, storms strengthen and erosion accelerates, according to a new government report.

    "Impacts on coastal systems are among the most costly and most certain consequences of climate change," Virginia Burkett, the chief scientist for climate and land-use change at the U.S. Geological Survey, told NBC News.

    Coastal regions contributed $8.3 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2011.

    Burkett is a co-lead author of the coastal impacts report, which is a technical input to the federally commissioned National Climate Assessment that was released in draft form earlier this month. That report noted that climate change is already disrupting life in the U.S. and warns those disruptions are set to worsen.

    The coastal report’s findings about the consequences of climate change are familiar — rising seas, increased storminess, floods and erosion threaten to cripple sewers, roads and power plants, for example. 

    What’s new, Burkett said, is that this familiarity has nudged coastal communities to at least begin planning adaptation strategies — things such as moving infrastructure inland, constructing seawalls and preserving barrier islands.

    "The problem, however, is that the implementation of the plans is lagging," Burkett said. That may be because people see climate change as a gradual process, leaving them time to build projects such as new roads and sewer systems as older systems fall into disrepair and project funding is secured.

    The need for adaptation, Burkett added, is driven by two factors: experience and science. Recent events such as the impact of superstorm Sandy on New York and New Jersey and the record loss of summer sea ice in the Artic in summer 2012 are opening eyes to the reality of climate change and need to adapt.

    Adding to the urgency is the rising cost we are already paying for climate change, Bob Deans, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told NBC News.

    "Congress just wrapped up this week part two of a what is going to be a $60 billion aid package to those northeastern cities that suffered from Superstorm Sandy," he said. "$60 billion is the amount of money that was raised by the fiscal cliff talks earlier this year … that is being zeroed out."

    The act of seeing the cost of climate change on the ledger, so to speak, makes climate change an issue to contend with today. It is no longer a theoretical threat we may face in the future, Deans added.

    "What we are seeing right now is that the price tag is coming due."

    John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, check out his website.