Bird Sit and Count at White Deer Park 2026.02.14 | a Birding for Wellbeing event

Let’s come together for the Great Backyard Bird Count!
Porch Sit, Outings, and Bird Count at White Deer Park 2026.02.14 | a Birding for Wellbeing event
Saturday, February 14, 2026, 8:15 - 11 a.m.

• Enjoy food and fellowship 8:15 – 8:45 a.m. Receive count instructions at 8:45, to begin birding by 9.
• All skill levels encouraged to come; borrow binoculars from us or bring your own.

Sponsors: Wake Audubon, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Wake County, and Town of Garner Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources.

Our new partnership with NAMI Wake County continues with our 2026 launch of Birding for Wellbeing – mindful outings with a slow pace to observe birds, relax in nature, and enjoy social connection in service to our physical and mental health.

• Today’ practice centers on the unity, belonging, and satisfaction that can come from gathering together towards a shared goal.

What is slow birding?
If new to you, slow birding is an approach to observing birds that majors on mindfulness and connection, designed to appeal to persons who prefer a more, relaxed birding environment, whereby we take time to meet one another, and identify birds, enjoy their song, watch their behavior, and notice their habitats and the other wildlife around them.

What’s a Bird Sit?
While slow birding can take on different forms, here we’ll sit together on White Deer Park’s beautiful, covered porch to identify and count birds to submit to the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), happening this weekend.

• When held at places like White Deer Park Nature Center, where the parking, entry path, Center, porch, and restrooms are Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant, Bird Sits are highly accessible for all to participate.
• More info about our venue at White Deer Park | Town of Garner, NC

What is the Great Backyard Bird Count?
The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is a free, fun, and easy event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds. Anyone can take part, from beginning bird watchers to experts, from anywhere in the world.

• Each checklist submitted during the GBBC helps researchers at Audubon, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Birds Canada to create a real-time snapshot of bird populations. These are compared year over year to learn how birds are doing, and how to protect them and the environment we share.
• Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) was the first online participatory-science (or community or citizen science) project to collect data on wild birds and to display results in near real time. Today it’s the world’s largest biodiversity-related participatory science project!
• Learn more here: Great Backyard Bird Count – Join us each February when the world comes together to watch, learn about, count, and celebrate birds.

How fantastic – we’ll team together from the comfort of White Deer Park’s Nature Center, either on the porch, or inside the Center if the day is super cold – and collectively contribute to community science!

Your hosts

• NAMI Wake County Executive Director Mark Simon. An avid birder, Mark is grateful for how birding has served his own mental health and passionate about sharing this source of well-being with others.
• Wake Audubon board director and Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging event lead Rick LaRose (he/him), who serves to bring accessible and welcoming ways for everyone to enjoy birds and take part in nature, wherever they are in their life journeys.
• White Deer Park Recreation Programs Manager and Wake Audubon educator Colleen Bockhahn, and Recreation Program Specialist Martha Fisk, who will be our insiders to the park and all that it offers.

Driving directions and logistics
Enter the Park at 2400 Aversboro Rd. (where some maps show Aversboro Rd. intersects with Buffaloe Rd.).
Turn left towards the West Parking Lot and Nature Center.
Upon parking, pass the main entrance on either side of the building, and meet on the back porch.

• There’s limited handicapped parking near the Center, but email Rick at rlarose.was@gmail.com if you’ll seek handicapped parking, as more can be added if we know in advance.
• Gendered restrooms are accessed from the outside, on the left side of the building as you approach it from the parking lot.
• Reach the Center at (919) 661-6982 with any questions.

What to bring

• Coffee, tea, and hot chocolate will be available. Bring your own reusable travel mug. Or, bring your own breakfast beverage of choice if you’d like something otherwise.
• Bring your own (refillable) water bottle if you intend to drink water. There’s water available inside the Center and at a station by gendered restrooms accessed outside the Center.
• The Center will provide heavy-duty plastic molded classroom chairs for us to sit on inside or outside. Bring a cushion if you’d like, or your own camp chair if you’d prefer.

What to expect

• We’ll start by snacking on pastries (some gluten free) and beverages as we all greet and enjoy community with each other 8:15 a.m. – 8:45 a.m.
• If borrowing binoculars, please arrive at 8:15 a.m. such that we can assist you with personalized help to focus them for your eyesight, and allow you time to meet others over snacks and a beverage. There’s no requirement to use binoculars, yet, we’ll have plenty to borrow if you choose to do so and provide a safe space to learn.
• We’ll receive instructions for how to count and log our bird sightings 8:45 – 9 a.m. and begin counting at 9.
• We’ll cluster together with experienced guides. Help to spot birds, identify birds, or learn from your guide and others to identify birds that may be new to you. Again, everyone - experienced birders as well as newcomers - are welcome.
• At some time into our Bird Sit, Mark, Colleen, Martha and others will offer to guide short outings into the park along flat, paved, accessible trails for anyone who would like to take part.
• We’ll count birds along the trails and submit those findings for the Count too. We’ll continue to count from the porch as well. That doubles the ways you might contribute to the Count!

What bird species frequent the Park and Trail?
Check out White Deer Park sightings on ebird.org ahead of us adding a checklist of our own.
White Deer Park, Wake, North Carolina, United States - eBird Hotspot

Questions ahead?
Email event manager Rick LaRose at rlarose.was@gmail.com.
Text Rick on the day of the event with any questions at 919 609-7570.

We're looking forward to sharing community and contributing to the Great Backyard Bird Count together with you on Saturday, February 14!

Wake Audubon advocates birds, wildlife, nature, and environmental conservation with a commitment to providing activities where all can safely access and celebrate nature as their authentic selves.
NAMI Wake County is the local affiliate for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. We provide advocacy, education, support, and public awareness so that people affected by mental illness can build better lives.
Why partner together?
As more and more stressors impact our everyday lives, the toll on our mental health can be debilitating.
As remedy, birding, bird song, and time in nature are proven to ease stress, boost mood, promote community, and strengthen well-being. We’re a natural fit.