BIRD COUNT: A simple joy can be had from the placement of a bird feeder outside a window.

If you agree, perhaps you’d enjoy lending your observation skills to the Great American Bird Count, to be held Feb. 16-19.

During the count, a project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, citizen scientists around the world collect data by doing something many of you already do: watch the birds.

The data is used to gain a greater understanding of changes to bird populations.

“Scientists and bird enthusiasts can learn a lot by knowing where the birds are,” the bird count’s website states. “Bird populations are dynamic; they are constantly in flux. No single scientist or team of scientists could hope to document and understand the complex distribution and movements of so many species in such a short time.”

To participate, sign up at gbbc.birdcount.org.

You will have to sign up for a free account to submit your findings, but you will be able to keep your password and username to participate in future Great American Bird Counts, as well as to take part in other eBird or Cornell Lab citizen science projects.

You only have to count and record the birds you see for 15 minutes to take part, but you can count as much as you want over the four days. You will have to submit counts for different days and places separately.

Visit the website for more information on how to submit your results. The site even offers assistance in bird identification.

Participants are invited to share bird photographs and bird sounds online, and organizers are holding a photo contest, too.

In the 2017 bird count, birdwatchers counted more than 6,200 species in more than 100 countries.