At the turn of the 20th century, it was a big deal to go out on Christmas Day and look for birds. At the time, “looking” involved bringing a shotgun.
Frank Chapman was a fan of the custom, though not necessarily the gun part. So on Christmas Day 1899 he got the idea to go out and identify and count the birds, not shoot them. The idea caught on and 122 years later tens of thousands of folks throughout the Western Hemisphere take to the outdoors to look for birds as part of the annual Christmas Bird Count. The exercise helps scientists keeps tabs on the bird population and identify potentially harmful developments in the bird world.
Here’s how it works: Each count is assigned an area 15 miles in diameter. Volunteers spend the day canvassing the area counting as many different birds as they can find. The results are then shipped to the National Audubon for analysis. You needn’t be an accomplished birder to participate; in fact, one of the great things about the count is that it often gives amateurs an opportunity to hang with and learn from accomplished birders. Not to mention the chance to lurk about the woods all day in search of nature.
Tag Archives: Christmas Bird Count
GetOut! T’was the weekend before Christmas …
On our weekly Tuesday Night Hike this past week we lingered at hike’s end to take in the three-quarternmoon that lit the tree-lined parking area. While our 3-mile night hike on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail was pretty great, we might have been just as content to hang out in the lot and bask in the moonlight. Imagine, I thought, being under a full moon and in an area with even more exposure.
Audubon’s CBC: Three Weeks for the Birds
At the turn of the 20th century, it was a big deal to go out on Christmas Day and look for birds. At the time, “looking” involved bringing a shotgun.
Frank Chapman was a fan of the custom, though not necessarily the gun part. So on Christmas Day 1899 he got the idea to go out and identify and count the birds, not shoot them. The idea caught on and 122 years later tens of thousands of folks throughout the Western Hemisphere take to the outdoors to look for birds as part of the annual Christmas Bird Count. The exercise helps scientists keeps tabs on the bird population and identify potentially harmful developments in the bird world.
Here’s how it works: Each count is assigned an area 15 miles in diameter. Volunteers spend the day canvassing the area counting as many different birds as they can find. The results are then shipped to the National Audubon for analysis. You needn’t be an accomplished birder to participate; in fact, one of the great things about the count is that it often gives amateurs an opportunity to hang with and learn from accomplished birders. Not to mention the chance to lurk about the woods all day in search of nature.
Getout! Your Friday Nudge for Weekend Adventure
We live less than a half mile from Occoneechee State Natural Area in Hillsborough, and I either hike or run there a couple times a week. Though I generally like to mix things up on trail I do regularly — hiking clockwise one time, counterclockwise the next — I have the same routine at Occoneechee: I enter from the neighborhood entrance off Eno Mountain Road, then take the Occoneechee Mountain Loop Trail, Overlook Trail and Chestnut Trail back to the Loop Trail, which brings me around the west side of the mountain to the Eno River for the hike’s highlight: a 75-yard stretch beneath a north-facing cliff that is perpetually green. Green with holly and ferns, which are common in these parts, but also with mountain laurel, with rhododendron, and even a narrow carpet of galax. For this brief stretch the trail leaves the Piedmont for the Southern Appalachians.
This weekend: Audubon’s Annual Christmas Bird Count
We depart from our traditional format this week, in part because outdoor activities are sparse the weekend before Christmas, in part because it’s time for the Christmas Bird Count, one of the biggest — and the longest running — citizen science efforts around.
Back in the late 1800s, a popular Christmas activity was the “Side Hunt,” in which hunters would choose sides, then head out and see which side could shoot the most birds. Frank M. Chapman, an early officer in the then-fledgling Audubon Society, liked the idea of going out and looking for birds on Christmas, he just wasn’t keen on shooting them. In 1900, he suggested to his friends that they go out and count the birds instead. Thus was born the Christmas Bird Census, which has since morphed into the Christmas Bird Count.
Today, tens of thousands of volunteers fan out across North America over a three-week period (Dec. 14 through Jan. 5) to count birds. According to Audubon, “The data collected by observers over the past century allow Audubon researchers, conservation biologists, wildlife agencies and other interested individuals to study the long-term health and status of bird populations across North America. When combined with other surveys such as the Breeding Bird Survey, it provides a picture of how the continent’s bird populations have changed in time and space over the past hundred years.”
The count is the single most important effort in keeping tabs on the health of our bird population. And it’s all done by volunteers, some with extensive birding experience, others who don’t know and canary from a cockatoo. At least, at the beginning of the day.
One of the great things about the count for the birding curious is that it’s a good opportunity to get out in the field with experienced birders and learn, by sight and sound, the local bird population. This year, according to the Carolina Bird Club, there are 60 Christmas Bird Counts in North and South Carolina.
For each count, birders typically gather at sunup and are assigned to different spots within a circle 15 miles in diameter. The goal is to spend the entire day tallying birds, by species, by total number. And again, if you don’t know a budgie from a buzzard, worry not. “If you are a beginning birder,” assures Audubon, “you will be able to join a group that includes at least one experienced birdwatcher.”
Of the 60 CBCs in the Carolinas, nine have already occurred, and 19 are today through Sunday. Counts in North Carolina, with who to contact for details, are:
Today
Rocky Mount
Saturday
- Gastonia: Steve Tracy, 704.853.0654
- Greensboro: Elizabeth Link, 336.273.4672
- Kitty Hawk: Jeff Lewis, 252.216.6336
- Raleigh: John Connors, 919.733.7450, x602
- Winston-Salem: Ron Morris, 336.725.1254
Sunday
- Catawba Valley, Dwayne Martin, Lori Owenby, 828.234.6041, 828.312.4834
- Durham, Jacob Socolar, Jeff Pippen, 919.636.0326
- Holly Shelter & Lea-Hutaff, Carson Wood, 910.859.9425
- Morehead City, John Fussell, jfuss@clis.com
- Southern Lake Norman, Taylor Piephoff, 704.621.0336
- Southern Pines, Susan Campbell, 910.695.0651
For more information on these counts and on the remaining counts, visit the CBC Christmas Bird Count web page, here.
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Those are our thoughts on weekend fun. Find more options at the sources listed below.
Coast
CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.
Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of coastal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.
Crystal Cost Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.
NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.
North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).
This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).
Mountains
Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.
Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.
The Mountain Times