This Sunday, you can join in one of the biggest science projects nationwide — and you don’t even need to break out your microscope.

The National Audubon Society is inviting bird watchers of all kinds to join in its Christmas Bird Count (CBC), encompassing just about all of Cullman County — and maybe even your own backyard.

This years’s survey will cover a 15-mile radius centered at the intersection of Interstate 65 and U.S. Highway 278. Birders will meet at the Culpepper Real Estate office in Cullman bright and early Sunday morning, splitting off into smaller groups to follow their avian quarry along specific, carefully charted routes.

The idea behind the chase is to document the area’s bird population by counting and recording all the birds that participants in Sunday’s hunt just so happen to see (or hear). The morning crew will meet up again at noon to compare results and plan for the day’s second outing, which kicks off after the group reconvenes. Volunteers are encouraged to partake in either of the two sessions if they don’t want to tag along for an entire day.

Meanwhile, parties of birders from all walks of life will be dispatching all across the nation, making the CBC one of the biggest citizen science surveys ever. More than 72,000 volunteers in more than 2,400 locations across the Northern Hemisphere will be counting birds. Organizers say the survey is vital to scientists because it accurately captures the health of bird populations on a massive scale that the research community couldn’t achieve on its own.

Volunteers will meet before the count gets underway at Culpepper Real Estate Co. in Cullman to be assigned routes and groups. The morning party will meet again at noon back at Culpepper to note their results, then the afternoon team will disembark for the final count of the day. All teams will meet at Karma’s Coffee House for the final wrap up and compilation of the results.

To join the Cullman branch of this national bird brigade, contact Vince Meleski at 256-739-4589 or vincemeleski@outlook.com.