Time to count the birds
Annual Christmas Bird Count is taking place in the Peterborough area next month GREENUP COLUMN
Even if you’re not an avid bird watcher, you have likely heard of an annual tradition called, the Christmas Bird Count (CBC). The CBC started over a century ago with 27 birders in 25 locales from Toronto, Ontario to Pacific Grove, California. The initiative was led by ornithologist Frank Chapman, who proposed a conservation-oriented alternative to the traditional “side hunt,” which was a Christmas Day competition to hunt the most birds and small mammals. This alternative initiative to identify, count, and record all the birds found on Christmas Day in 1900 has turned into one of North America’s longest-running wildlife monitoring programs.
Another Christmas Bird Count season is just around the corner. Between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5, tens of thousands of bird and winter enthusiasts will rally together to count millions of birds across the continent as part of the 118th year of this long-running wildlife survey.
Participants in Peterborough will take part in this fun winter tradition on Dec. 16, many rising before dawn and counting birds until sunset.
Each year, Bird Studies Canada and the National Audubon Society help coordinate and support the efforts of more than 2,500 counts throughout the Western Hemisphere. Christmas Bird Counts are run across Canada and the United States, as well as in Latin America, the Caribbean and some Pacific Islands.
What are tens of thousands of birdwatchers actually looking for during these counts? Data collected during each count includes details on the number of birds of each species seen or heard that day. Count areas are delineated in each locale by a 24-kilometre diameter circle. Surveying this same circle year-after-year contributes valuable long-term information about how winter birds are faring, both in each area, and across the country.
Peterborough participants count birds in a 24 km circular area that is centered on the intersection of Chemong Road and Sunset Boulevard. The count area is divided into 10 smaller areas and a team of participants is assigned to each area.
The CBC is a long-standing Peterborough bird watching tradition and long-term citizen science project that is facilitated locally by the Peterborough Field Naturalists (PFN). Our local CBC is now in its 66th year and is the longest running wildlife survey in Peterborough County.
Do you love bird watching? If you are interested in participating, there is still time to register.
“Organization of the Peterborough count is coming together,” shares Peterborough Field Naturalist member and local CBC compiler Martin Parker, “Many PFN members and friends have registered to participate; there is still room for more birders with ten areas within the Peterborough count circle, each of which will be covered by a specific group of participants.”
Not quite sure if your bird identification skills are refined enough to participate? Novice or experienced, the Christmas Bird Count is for everyone. Bird Studies Canada’s Christmas Bird Count co-oordinator, Liz Purves, assures interested bird watchers and enthusiasts, “Every Christmas Bird Count participant is an important part of this valuable project for birds.”
Whether you like exploring forests, fields and waters in search of lingering migrants, or prefer counting feeder birds from your window with a warm mug in hand, the Christmas Bird Count offers diverse opportunities for participation.
No matter how you contribute, all Christmas Bird Count observations are used to study the health of winter bird populations over time and guide conservation strategies to help birds and their habitats.
“Whether you participate for bird conservation, for some friendly birding competition, or for an excuse to get outside in the winter, your efforts are meaningful for birds,” explains Purves. The skill and dedication of thousands of volunteer citizen scientists harnessed during the Christmas Bird Count achieve incredible results that professional scientists and wildlife biologists could never accomplish alone.
Join one of the world’s largest citizen science projects this holiday season! During last year’s count in Canada, 14,000 participants in 447 counts across the country counted more than 3 million birds of 278 species. Counts were conducted across diverse habitat types in each of Canada’s provinces and territories.
To register for our local Peterborough CBC, you can contact local count compiler, Martin Parker by phone at 705-7454750 or by e-mail at mparker19@ cogeco.ca.
There is also a CBC being conducted a bit further north in the Peterborough Region; the 32nd annual Petroglyphs CBC will be held Dec. 27. This count samples the bird life in an area that stretches from the north shore of Stoney Lake northward towards Apsley to Jack Lake. If you would like to participate in this count, contact Colin Jones at colin. jones@ontario.ca,
Other counts in the area include the Fenelon Falls CBC, organized by Kawartha Field Naturalists and the Rice Lake Plain CBC on the South shore of Rice Lake. For additional information and to register visit the Bird Studies Canada website.
Karen Halley is GreenUP’s communications and marketing specialist. Learn more at www.greenup.on.ca.