Calling all birders for the 118th Christmas Bird Count.
The Campbell River Christmas Bird Count is planned for Dec. 28. Novice or experienced, you can still participate in this annual feat of citizen science. Preregister to join a team and cover a designated area from sun-rise to sunset. Or you can submit your feeder count for Dec. 28 – choose a time when you have the most feathered visitors and count only that one time.
Whether you like exploring forests, fields, and waters in search of lingering migrants, or prefer counting feeder birds from your window with a warm mug in hand, the Christmas Bird Count offers diverse opportunities for participation. No matter how you contribute, all Christmas Bird Count observations are used to study the health of winter bird populations over time and guide conservation strategies to help birds and their habitats.
Each year, Bird Studies Canada and the National Audubon Society help coordinate and support the efforts of more than 2,500 counts throughout the Western Hemisphere. Christmas Bird Counts are run across Canada and the United States, as well as in Latin America, the Caribbean, and some Pacific Islands. Data collected during the counts include details on the number of birds of each species seen or heard within a local 24-km diameter circle. Surveying this circle year-after-year contributes valuable long-term information on how winter birds are faring, both in your locale and across the country will be held
The Christmas Bird Count took root over a century ago when 27 birders in 25 localities from Toronto, Ontario to Pacific Grove, California, led by ornithologist Frank Chapman, proposed a conservation-oriented alternative to the traditional ‘side hunt,’ a Christmas Day competition to hunt the most birds and small mammals. This alternative initiative to identify, count, and record all the birds found on Christmas Day 1900 has turned into one of North America’s longest-running wildlife monitoring programs.
To register to be on a bird count team, call count organizer Luisa at 250-202-3266. Or call in your feeder count info and address as of Dec. 29. Note: Extreme weather may cause the count to be rescheduled. Check with the organizer for alternate date.