The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a traditional project of Audubon societies around the country and takes place between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5.
Each December birders gather to record every individual bird and species encountered during the day. 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.
The data collected by each count group are then sent to the National Audubon Headquarters in New York.
Count data is published in a special book-size edition of National Audubon Society Field Notes magazine.
Redbud Audubon invites all birders and nature enthusiasts to join in the upcoming Christmas Bird Count. Birders of all skill levels are encouraged to participate. This is Audubon’s longest running wintertime tradition and is the 35th year the Count has taken place in Lake County.
After the count, participants are invited to a Pizza dinner at 5:30 p.m. at DJ’s Pizza on State Street in Kelseyville to join in the Count Compilation where the tally of the day’s sightings is compiled.
Previous to the bird count, at the Thursday, Dec. 17 meeting, Redbud Audubon will present an extensive slide show and discussion of distinguishing features of birds that are often seen during the annual count.
If you are interested in participating in the bird count, call Darlene Hecomovich, at 707-928-5591 or Jeannette Knight, 707-928-4233.
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.
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