Annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count Continuing

Are you one of the 65 million Americans who feed birds in your backyard? If so, you might be interested in the 105th Annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC), which began last week and continues through January 5.

According to staff members at Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo, more than 50,000 bird watchers help census bird populations across America. The information compiled has created the longest database in ornithology.

Volunteers participating in the Christmas Bird Count have helped scientists learn more about bird behavior and conservation. According to Audubon the Christmas Bird Count is “citizen science in action.” The CBC is the oldest and largest citizen science event in the world.

For more than 100 years people have gathered during the winter holiday season to count birds. For many people this is an annual tradition that has passed from one generation to the next.

In the process they have created a vast pool of bird data that is the most comprehensive available for mid-December to early January. It is a fertile source of information on the status and distribution of early winter bird populations and is studied by scientists and interested people the world over.

While there is a specific methodology to the CBC and birds do need to be counted within an existing CBC circle, anyone can participate. Beginning birders can join a group that includes at least one experienced birdwatcher.

Those with homes within the boundaries of a CBC circle can stay home and report the birds that visit their feeders or join a group of birdwatchers in the field.

Anyone interested in participating in a count this year, including feeder counting, should contact their count compiler prior to the circle’s scheduled count. Details on local circles follow. Counters can pick the most convenient date and/or location for them, or can participate in more than one count.

The group will cover the coastline, wooded habitats, water company properties, river estuaries and open fields during the day, and then meet in the evening for an informal dinner to compile the results. Volunteers can participate for whatever part of the day that they like.

Volunteers are still needed for the coastal Connecticut Count in the Stratford-Milford area, scheduled for Sunday, December 26. Compilation will be at the Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford Point at 5 pm that day.

Contact Steve Mayo via email, SMayo@sikorsky.com, or on the phone at 203-393-0694, for details.

The Audubon Center in Greenwich, which serves as the Connecticut State Office for Audubon, has full information concerning CBC. The center, at 613 Riversville Road, can be contacted at 203-869-5272. The Connecticut Audubon Deputy Director, Carolyn Hughes, can be reached at the Audubon Center at Bent of the River, 185 East Flat Hill Road in Southbury, by calling 264-5098.

To learn more, or to register for this year’s count, go to www.audubon.org/bird/cbc.