LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – This year, the annual Clear Lake Christmas Bird Count, held by the Redbud Audubon Society, will be on Saturday, Dec. 15.

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 edition of the National Audubon Society American Birds 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 38th year the count has taken place in Lake County.

There will be two main groups that participants might wish to join – one will meet at the Ranch House at Anderson Marsh State Historic Park and the other will meet at the visitor’s parking lot at the Clear Lake State Park. Both groups will meet at 8 a.m. and continue through to early or midafternoon.

After the count, participants are invited to a pizza dinner at 6 p.m. at Kelseyville 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. 13, meeting at the Presbyterian Church Social Hall in Kelseyville, Redbud Audubon will present an extensive slide show and discussion of distinguishing features of birds that are often seen during the annual count. The meeting is open to the public and visitors are encouraged to attend.

If you are interested in participating in the bird count, call Darlene Hecomovich, at 707-928-5591 or email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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.

Scientists rely on the remarkable trend data of Audubon’s CBC to better understand how birds and the environment are faring throughout North America – and what needs to be done to protect them. Data from Audubon’s signature Citizen Science program are at the heart of numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies.

National Audubon’s president, David Yarnold states: “The information gathered by its army of dedicated volunteers leads directly to solutions. At a time when people wonder if individual actions can make a difference, we know that our volunteers enable scientists to learn about the impacts of environmental threats like climate change and habitat loss. That’s good news not just for birds but for all of us.”