Rutgers Expert Can Discuss Family’s 43-Year Backyard Bird Citizen Science Project

New Brunswick, N.J. (June 8, 2020) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick Professor Kimberly Russell is available for interviews on an upstate New York family’s 43-year family tradition – a competition to predict the arrival of American robins in their backyard every spring – which became an accidental example of citizen science.

Long-term data on charismatic species like birds can often be obtained from amateur observations or other non-scientific sources. According to a Russell-led paper in The Kingbird, a New York State Ornithological Association journal, records kept by the Blazey family during their competition reveal one of the signature effects of climate change: altered timing of migration.

In 1976, Richard Blazey, an engineer, inventor, gadget and bird enthusiast and father of three children, launched what would become an important annual family tradition. “Robin’s Day” marked the first confirmed sighting of an American robin – Turdus migratorius – in the family’s backyard in Monroe County near Rochester, New York.

Beginning after Christmas each year, the family kept a can for loose change in their home and family members regularly added coins that became the prize money for the one who guessed the date closest to the arrival of the first robin of the season. On the day of the first sighting, a cake was baked and served, the winner was awarded the cash – usually $10 to $20 – and the family celebrated this harbinger of spring. The family also kept plaques commemorating the winners and the robin arrival dates.

Although they didn’t realize it at the time, the iconic bird appeared at the Blazey family’s Penfield home earlier and earlier: one day every three years, on average, from 1976 to 2019. While this overall trend is consistent with a warming world, Russell wanted to check. The actual arrival time in any given year was well-predicted by the mid-winter temperature, as recorded at Greater Rochester International Airport. With the link to temperature established, those records also show the winter temperatures in the area have been rising about 1 degree every 27.5 years. Both the robins and the temperature record signal the approaching global catastrophe that is climate change.

Richard Blazey, an engineer at Kodak for 33 years, died last year, but according to the paper the tradition continues, despite family members now spanning generations and coasts.

To interview Professor Russell, an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, and get a PDF of the paper, contact Todd Bates at [email protected]

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Broadcast interviews: Rutgers University has broadcast-quality TV and radio studios available for remote live or taped interviews with Rutgers experts. For more information, contact Neal Buccino at [email protected]

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