Every year, around the Christmas Holiday, tens of thousands of expert and amateur birders come together in a collaborative effort to find, identify, and tally as many birds as possible. This effort, led by the National Audubon Society, is called the Christmas Bird Count. Today the Bird Count is one of the world's largest and longest-running community science projects. The Bird Count originated from the efforts of conservationists trying to change the culture of the 19th century.
What: 124th Annual Christmas Bird Count
When: Saturday December 16th 2023
Where: Brush Creek Elementary School in Eagle, CO
Cost: FREE
For more information or to register for the 124th annual Christmas Bird Count in Eagle County, visit: https://www.walkingmountains.org/event/christmas-bird-count/.
You do not have to be an expert birder to participate.
During the late 1800s - early 1900’s there was a hunting tradition called the Christmas Side Hunt in which small groups would team up and compete for who could come back with the most animals. The Side Hunt targeted any animals that they could find. This was not all for waste, as the winter time was easiest to keep meat fresh, but the side hunt was certainly exploitative. As the 19th century was coming to an end, many influential environmental leaders began to question the traditions of the past such as the Christmas Side Hunt. Conservation and preservation of wild places and living things began to gain more attention.
These changing attitudes inspired Frank Chapman, an ornithologist from New England, to organize the first Bird Count. This was an alternative holiday tradition where the community would go out and count birds rather than hunt them. On Christmas Day, 1900, 27 people in 25 areas, from New Brunswick Canada to Monterey California, took time out of their holiday to count 18,500 individual birds of 89 different species. 124 years later, birders all around the Americas still participate in the annual tradition. In recent years the Christmas Bird Count has brought 70,000+ people out to count more than 64 million individual birds of over 2,500 species.
The annual Christmas Bird Counts data has been used in over 300 peer-reviewed studies and is used to inform land managers of trends in bird populations over time. This long dataset can also be used to learn about how climate change and human activity are affecting the population and distribution of birds. Recent studies have shown that the number of birds in North America has declined by almost 3 billion since 1970. This is a loss of about 29% of the 1970’s abundance.
The Christmas Bird Count is a massive effort that relies on the support from local organizers and community members to come out and help tally birds within a 15-mile radius circle. Eagle County hosts two circles, one centered on Eagle and the other on Dotsero. These circles are broken down into smaller segments which small groups of about 4 people go and survey. Results are compiled and submitted to the National Audubon Society. The Christmas Bird Count is a great way to come together as a community and help add to a body of scientific knowledge. You do not have to be an expert birder to participate.
Riley Gaines is the Community Science and Hiking Coordinator at Walking Mountain. He enjoys watching birds but needs to practice his identification skills.
