The National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count has endured every year since 1900 despite two World Wars, the 1918 pandemic, and the 1929 Great Depression.
This year’s bird count is scheduled from Dec. 14-Jan. 5. As a citizen-science project unequaled in history, the Christmas Bird Count has collected 119 years of data on the population and distribution of birds in the Western Hemisphere.
The data have shown alarming declines in bird populations over the last 50 years. Column readers have witnessed the decline because they’ve asked me where their backyard birds have gone.
I don’t have a good answer. But because of the CBCs, we have data documenting the bird decline.
This year, I had some misgivings about people going on bird counts because the Centers for Disease Control warns that COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the United States are rising.
My concerns were eased after the National Audubon Society released a statement: “Pending local restrictions, many counts will be done under the COVID-19 guidelines sent to compilers, while others will likely be canceled.”
Compilers organize and conduct each of some 2,600 CBCs spanning the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Bermuda, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands. A CBC is conducted within a circle 15-miles in diameter over a particular geographic location, and each CBC has a title, such as the Buffalo Bayou CBC or the Houston CBC.
Christmas Bird Count
Anyone 18 or older may participate in a Christmas Bird Count free of charge.
There’s no need to be an expert birder because anyone with an interest in birds can help with such things as spotting birds and keeping tallies of birds.
People in homes within the 15-mile radius of a CBC may count birds at their birdfeeders.
People participating in a CBC contribute to science by tallying the winter population of birds.
Scientists use the bird tallies to analyze trends in bird distributions and populations.
The Houston region has multiple CBC locations. To participate in a CBC, go to the Houston Audubon website, houstonaudubon.org, and click on “Christmas Bird Counts.” Find a CBC that interests you and contact the compiler.
You do not have to be an expert birder to participate. I know many Houston area compilers personally, and I’m confident they’ll follow COVID-19 guidelines about wearing masks, social distancing and frequent handwashing.
Going outdoors to systematically count birds with a team of safely distanced people is undoubtedly safer than going inside shopping malls where crowds of people are close to each other. Besides, tallying birds help scientists compile data to influence public policy for protecting birds and their habitat.
Ornithologist Frank Chapman (1864-1945) organized the first bird census on December 25, 1900. with 27 volunteers in 25 North American locations. Little did he realize he’d begun the greatest and most enduring citizen-science project in history.
Gary Clark is the author of “Book of Texas Birds,” with photography by Kathy Adams Clark (Texas A&M University Press). Email him at Texasbirder@comcast.net.
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December 04, 2020 at 03:00AM
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'Tis the season for another census: The Christmas Bird Count - Houston Chronicle
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