Redbud Audubon to hold 49th annual Christmas Bird Count
- Lake County News reports
- Posted On
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Redbud Audubon Society will conduct its 49th annual Christmas Bird Count, or CBC, on Saturday, Dec. 16. The Christmas Bird Count is a traditional project of Audubon societies around the county.
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 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to reserve your spot or to ask about participating in a smaller group within the count circle.
Participants are invited to gather at 5 p.m. at Kelseyville Pizza for a “Count Dinner,” hosted by Redbud Audubon.
National Audubon has been holding a Christmas Bird Count for 126 years. The official count period usually starts around the middle of December and ends the first week of January.
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. 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.