New Mexico bird enthusiasts are getting ready for this year's Great Backyard Bird Count.
The nationwide event starts Friday and runs through Monday.
The executive director of Audubon New Mexico, Karyn Stockdale, says all people need to do is watch and count birds for at least 15 minutes on any day of the count.
The event is hosted by the National Audubon Society, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada. Officials say the results provide a snapshot of the whereabouts of more than 600 bird species.
Last year, more than 104,000 bird checklists were submitted. More than 850 of them were entered by people in New Mexico.
In all, more than 17 million birds were counted and 623 species were identified.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.