What is the Christmas Bird Count?
By Mike • December 16, 2008 • 14 commentsThis is is the most magical time of the year, one filled with holiday cheer, festive celebrations, and… surveys of winter avifauna? That’s right! For the American birding community, the holiday season heralds more than blinking lights, tree trimming, and rampant consumerism. It’s also time for the Christmas Bird Count.
The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a grand birding tradition, respected by all the respectable birders. Its roots extend back to the turn of the previous century. The National Audubon Society tells the story best:
Prior to the turn of the century, people engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas “Side Hunt”: They would choose sides and go afield with their guns; whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won. Conservation was in its beginning stages around the turn of the 20th century, and many observers and scientists were becoming concerned about declining bird populations. Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank Chapman, an early officer in the then budding Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition - a ‘Christmas Bird Census’ - that would count birds in the holidays rather than hunt them. So began the Christmas Bird Count. Thanks to the inspiration of Frank M. Chapman and the enthusiasm of twenty-seven dedicated birders, twenty-five Christmas Bird Counts were held that day. The locations ranged from Toronto, Ontario to Pacific Grove, California with most counts in or near the population centers of northeastern North America. Those original 27 Christmas Bird Counters tallied a total of 90 species on all the counts combined.
Warms the cockles of your heart, doesn’t it? But this exercise is not an idle indulgence by any means (as if birding in the dead of winter could be considered indulgent!) The CBC is a sterling example of how individual birders can make a difference. Christmas Bird Counts are organized all over North America, as well as scattered locations throughout Central and South America. Each count area is a Circle that is fifteen miles in diameter. Volunteers count all birds they see in the circle during a single specified day, always within two weeks of December 25.
The next step is the critical one. Every Circle is organized by a Compiler. Among the Compiler’s responsibilities are recruiting, organizing, and training participants and managing the logistics of the Count itself. The Compiler also aggregates the data resulting from the Count — weather, time, number of species, number per species, rare or unusual sightings, etc. The Compiler’s most important task is to report that data to the National Audubon Society.
The primary objective of the Christmas Bird Count is to monitor the status and distribution of bird populations across the Western Hemisphere. When the CBC data is combined with that of other surveys such as the North American Breeding Bird Survey, a clearer picture of how bird populations throughout the Americas have changed in time and space over the past hundred years develops. Data helps reveal the impact of diseases such as, in years past, the West Nile virus. Since birds are overall indicators of the health of our environment, the Count can also tell us a great deal about ourselves and our impact on local flora and fauna.
So, in conclusion, the Christmas Bird Count is fun, social, and noble. How can you pass that up? Like every other CBC of the 21st century, this year’s Christmas Bird Count will extend from December 14 to January 5. Maybe you’ve already made plans to participate in the count this year, and maybe you haven’t. I’ve let the Rochester CBC pass me by (in case you’re wondering why it was so early, it’s been winter here since September!) but Corey is still scheduled for the Queens count this coming weekend. If you don’t know where your local count is, contact your local Audubon chapter or bird club post haste. In case you haven’t noticed, the holiday season has arrived…
• Looking for a good book or field guide? We've got some suggestions... •
Christmas Bird Counts are such an excellent time. With all the tension of getting things ready for the holidays (aka, Christmas and New Years) it is nice to get out and bird all day with other like-minded individuals. Plus, every bird counts! I get a great joy of counting the “commons” like White-breasted Nuthatches (one of my favorite birds) and Black-capped Chickadees. Plus, you never know when a rarity or extra-special bird will show up. And with so many birders, oddities are more likely.
Good birding to all counters and if you can’t join this year, try to plan for it next year. It is one of those birding events that everyone should participate in.
Hey there, Birdfreak. I couldn’t agree more.
I’m looking forward to my second CBC here in Chattanooga Tennessee. Last year was a hoot! Yup - four species of owl, plus another 70 or so other species. Speaking of Black Capped Chickadees, checkout my encounter with one in 2000 in Maine.
Happy Trails! And Happy Birding!
My first christmas in the americas, hence my first christmas bird count. I’m really looking forward to it. Looking at past counts I reckon we’ll be very lucky to get anywhere near Jeffrey’s 70 species down here though!
Considering my role as the West Bronx CBC sweeper, charged with rustling up a kestrel and any other odd species rather than tallying up definitive bird lists, I’ll be lucky if I get 20 species. Good luck to all of you!
I’m doing three counts (Saratoga, Albany, and Catskill/Coxsackie) in four days, provided I get next Tuesday off from work.
If anyone is traveling over the holidays I highly recommend looking into joining a count circle wherever you are: last year I got my life Townsend’s Warbler on the Escondido, CA count!
I am the coordinator for the St. Petersburg, Florida CBC. The Compiler is Dave Goodwin. Although we are the most densely populated counties in the state we also have many birds, especially in winter. Our 2008 Christmas Bird Count will be December 20th and I invite any of you readers to join us if your visiting over the holidays or need a break from the cold weather. Last year, like the previous was a damp, dingy beginning that kept the warblers and sparrows down but we still managed 156 species good enough for top 5 in the state. We had over 70 birders volunteer and the end of day countdown was attended by over 30 people. If you’d like to enjoy a taste of Florida winter birding with some of the best birders in the state, email me at the attached address. Great Blog by the way Mike!
Thanks, Don. I can’t express in words how much I’d love to be a part of that count!
I’m not so much a bird lover. but i’d love to experience different things this year so am open to any ideas.
[...] 16, 2008 • No comments yet Now that we’ve answered the burning question, “What is the Christmas Bird Count?” let’s address its little known cousin, the Xmas Tree Bird Count. The Bufflehead Birder [...]
Hey Mike, Great post — great summary of the CBC. I agree with your assessment that it’s fun, social, and noble, and I agree with Birdfreak’s comment that everyone should participate. Kim and I already went on the Toledo count last Sunday, but next weekend we’ve got the CBC at Fremont, Ohio, which is co-sponsored by the Ohio Young Birders Club. Once again, like the last two years, we’ll have a number of teenaged birders along on the count, as we’re hoping to inspire the next generation to take up the tradition.
[...] and most likely recovering on Sunday. (If you don’t know what the Christmas Bird Count is, here is your enlightening answer.) Charlie is still recovering from various maladies and general decrepitude so he’ll probably [...]
[...] the rest of the year. Here in the Americas, many of us observe the beginning of winter with a Christmas Bird Count. Now, thanks to David Ringer and his colleagues at Birdstack, another way to celebrate species [...]
[...] you worship, you undoubtedly have some festivities to indulge in this weekend. You may even have a Christmas Bird Count scheduled. Whatever it is you have planned, do try to burn off some of those holiday calories by [...]