Volunteers sought for annual bird count
Anyone looking for an escape from the holiday rush might consider participating in the annual Christmas Bird Count set for Sunday, Dec. 18.
The count will be conducted by the National Park Service, local chapters of the National Audubon Society, the city of Hot Springs and Lake Catherine State Park.
Field observers and feeder watchers of all birding skill levels are welcome to help document the birds in an established 15mile wide diameter radius that includes the city, the national park and Lake Catherine. Organized by a count compiler, volunteers follow specified routes within the circle, counting every bird they see or hear all day, giving an indication of the total number of birds in the circle that day.
Although there are several other bird counts that also take place annually, such as the Great Backyard Bird Count in February, the Christmas Bird Count is the only one
the National Park Service currently coordinates and participates in, Shelley Todd, HSNP’s natural resource program manager, said Thursday.
“The count in this area was originally started in 1968 and continued in 1969. No official counts took place after that until the 2014 CBC, though some counting was done that wasn’t recorded in the CBC database, which the Audubon Society maintains,” she said, noting this is the third year the National Park Service has been the coordinating agency.
Historically, the count took place on Christmas Day, but now the count period occurs within the weeks before and after Christmas, between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5, with each area designated a specific date to conduct their count.
“We count all birds, migrants and residents alike,” Todd said. “There are many species which are usually found in Arkansas only in the winter, and we pay special attention to those. It’s always exciting to find an unusual or rare bird!”
She noted counts take place all over the world, but North America has the highest density of count areas and the most continuously collected data. Hot Springs Village and Arkadelphia have count circles in addition to Hot Springs.
“More than 200 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles have resulted from the use of CBC data, and several federal and state agencies use the information collected in their decision and policy-making processes,” Todd said.
“A report that came out just last year used CBC data to show the impacts of warmer temperatures on bird migration patterns and other population-level impacts over time.”
Todd stressed that anyone can participate in the count, but they typically pair up novice birders with experts to ensure quality data is collected “and so the new birders can learn from the best.”
She said they welcome people who watch their backyard feeders to count and identify birds on count day, noting, “If anyone has feeders, but not the appropriate expertise, we can send a field team by to check out their birds as they are scouring the rest of the landscape for birds in the area.”
Todd said the local circle is broken into 11 sections and each field team is responsible for counting the birds in one or more of the areas.
“The more people we recruit to help, the better our numbers will be, given the large size of the circle,” she said.
According to the National Audubon Society’s website, this is the 117th Christmas Bird Count, and the count “has relied on the dedication and commitment of volunteers” since its inception.
The site noted the CBC relies 100 percent on donations “to provide support to compilers and volunteers on count day, to manage the historic database, and to fund the technology to make historic data available to researchers.”
The data collected by CBC participants over the past century and more have become one of only two large pools of information informing ornithologists and conservation biologists how the birds of the Americas are faring over time, it states. In 2012, the society made CBC participation free to make it accessible to anyone.
Call Todd at 501-620-6751 or email shelley_todd@nps. gov for more information, or to sign up to participate.
Interested participants have to sign up with an existing CBC circle and can’t just do their own count and submit their data, the website states.
“Since each CBC is a real census, and since the 15-mile diameter circle contains a lot of area to be covered, single-observer counts, except in unusual circumstances, cannot be allowed,” it states.