Christmas bird counters help birds, scientists

For 100 years or more, Christmas was the scene of Christmas hunts in which hunters competed in teams to kill as many birds and animals as possible.

But by the 1900s, conservationists noticed the populations of birds were declining. That’s when ornithologist Frank M Chapman, an early organizer of the Audubon Society, proposed a new kind of hunt — a count.

The Christmas Bird Count has since spread around the world, with thousands of counters heading out between November and December to tally up the number and kinds of birds they see in their neighborhoods.

In 2005, birders counted the largest number of species ever reported in a single U.S. location, finding 250 separate species around Matagorda and Palacios, Texas.

The world record is 529 species observed Dec. 21, 2013 on the eastern shores of the Andes in Ecuador.

Bird counting is free and open to all. Counts are conducted in a count circle of 15 miles with at least 10 volunteers and a compiler.

While the counts are not an exact census, they do offer valuable insight to scientists on the health of bird populations.

Learn more and join the count at audubon.org