Redbud Audubon Society is planning its 50th Annual Christmas Bird Count
December 14, 2024
The Redbud Audubon Society will conduct its 50th annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a traditional project of Audubon societies around the country.
Previous participants have been sent information about meeting times and places by the count organizers, Brad and Kathy Barnwell, but new participants are welcome. They can meet at either Anderson Marsh State Historic Park or Clear Lake State Park at 8 a.m. or may participate in smaller individual groups. Email Brad and Kathy at bradleybarnwell@att.net to reserve your spot or to ask about participating in a smaller group within the count circle. You can also call Redbud Audubon at (707) 805-9410 and leave a message. Someone will return your call. Newcomers are highly urged to join this effort. If you are new to Lake County and would like to meet people with similar interests, join us on count day!
Previous to the bird count, on Thursday, Dec. 12 starting at 7 p.m. Donna Mackiewicz will host a Zoom Bird Identification program. Just click on the link in this newsletter (if you receive it online) or go to www.redbudaudubon.organd click the “register” option on the home page. The link to join the program will be sent to you the day of the program.
National Audubon has been holding a Christmas Bird Count for 125 years. The official count period starts December 14 and ends January 5. Local Audubon Societies can decide what day they conduct their counts within this time frame. Every individual bird and species encountered during the day is recorded. Each count group has a designated circle of 15 miles in diameter and tries to cover as much ground as possible within a certain period of time.
Count volunteers follow specified routes through the designated 15-mile (24-km) diameter circle, counting every bird they see or hear all day. It’s not just a species tally—all birds are counted all day, giving an indication of the total number of birds in the circle that day.
The data collected by each count group are then sent to the National Audubon Headquarters in New York and is made available online.
The Christmas Bird Count began more than a century ago when 27 conservationists in 25 localities, led by scientist and writer Frank Chapman, changed the course of ornithological history.
On Christmas Day in 1900, the small group posed an alternative to the “side hunt,” a Christmas day activity in which teams competed to see who could shoot the most birds and small mammals. Instead, Chapman proposed to identify, count, and record all the birds they saw, founding what is now considered to be the world’s most significant citizen-based conservation effort – and century-old institution.
