Audubon Society’s 117th Christmas Bird Count Is From Dec. 14 to Jan. 5

Summary: The National Audubon Society’s 117th Christmas Bird Count (CBS) takes place for the 2016 to 2017 season from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5, inclusively.

National Audubon Society's 115th Christmas Bird Count; Caesar Creek Lake, southwestern Ohio, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014; Caesar Creek Lake natural resources specialist Rebecca Palmer (right) points out a brown creeper (Certhia Americana) during annual bird census; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Matthew Palmer: LouisvilleUSACE, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

The National Audubon Society’s 117th Christmas Bird Count (CBS), scheduled for one day in predetermined local circles across the United States, Canada and many countries in the Western Hemisphere, takes place for the 2016 to 2017 season from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5, inclusively.

The National Audubon Society conducts a Christmas Bird Count every year between the inclusive dates of Dec. 14 to Jan. 5. Counts are conducted along specified routes through designated 15-mile (24-kilometer) diameter circles across the participating countries. Participants count every bird that is heard or seen during the local circle’s designated 24-hour period.

The National Audubon Society’s website maintains a CBC home page and includes a content page with a map indicating the circles that are expected to participate in the 117th Christmas Bird Count. Clicking on a map circle opens an informational window with contact and location details. Each local circle’s center is described. Each center’s latitude and longitude are identified. The local circle’s count date is provided.

The Christmas Bird Count is open to everyone. All skill levels, from beginner to expert, are eligible. Circle compilers will match beginners with groups membered by at least one experienced birdwatcher.

Participants are asked to contact circle compilers in advance of local dates to make arrangements for their involvement in the local count. Participants are not restricted to involvement in only one circle’s count. Participants are allowed to sign up with as many count circles as they wish.

The society’s 117th Christmas Bird Count Map of Active Circles is located at: http://audubon.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=3dcefef2f4654a94960fc3c8d1cfcc6d

The Christmas Bird Count dates back to 1900. Ornithologist and Audubon member Frank Michler Chapman (June 12, 1864-Nov. 15, 1945) proposed and launched the first Christmas count in December 1900 as an alternative to the North American overharvesting tradition of Christmas side hunts.

In the second volume of Bird-Lore magazine, which he had founded in 1899 as the Audubon Societies’ official organ, Frank Chapman explained the side hunt tradition:

“It is not many years ago that sportsmen were accustomed to meet on Christmas Day, ‘choose sides,’ and then, as representatives of the two bands resulting, hie them to the fields and woods on the cheerful mission of killing practically everything in fur or feathers that crossed their path -- if they could.” (page 192)

Chapman suggested replacing competitive killing of birds with conducting a census of live birds. He explained:

“Now Bird-Lore proposes a new kind of Christmas side hunt, in the form of a Christmas bird-census, and we hope that all our readers who have the opportunity will aid us in making it a success by spending a portion of Christmas Day with the birds and sending a report of their ‘hunt’ to Bird-Lore before they retire that night.”

Chapman’s Christmas count took place in 25 locations in the United States and Canada. The northeastern United States claimed the most locations, with 15 sites dotting Massachusetts to Pennsylvania, for the first Christmas Bird Count. Participants numbered 27.

The Christmas Bird Count qualifies as the United States’ longest-running citizen science bird project. The Christmas bird census has taken place every year since its first launch. Summaries of each year’s Christmas Bird Count have been published annually since the census began in 1900.

The takeaway for the National Audubon Society’s 117th Christmas Bird Count, held from Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2016, to Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017, is the ease with which this longest-running citizen bird project happens and the enjoyment of contributing to the appreciation and protection of birds and their habitats.

The Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count dates back to 1900: Audubon Society @audubonsociety, via Twitter Oct. 17, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

National Audubon Society's 115th Christmas Bird Count; Caesar Creek Lake, southwestern Ohio, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014; Caesar Creek Lake natural resources specialist Rebecca Palmer (right) points out a brown creeper (Certhia Americana) during annual bird census; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Matthew Palmer: LouisvilleUSACE, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/louisvilleusace/16062497876/

The Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count dates back to 1900: Audubon Society @audubonsociety, via Twitter Oct. 17, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/audubonsociety/status/788052029465849856

For further information:

Audubon Society @audubonsociety. “Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count is one of the longest-running scientific studies in history.” Twitter. Oct. 17, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/audubonsociety/status/788052029465849856

Chapman, Frank M. “A Christmas Bird-Census.” Bird-Lore. Vol. II. Harrisburg PA; New York NY: The Macmillan Co., 1900.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32602707

“Christmas Is for the Birds.” USDA Forest Service > News & Events. Nov. 16, 2016.
Available @ http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/arp/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD524966

“History of the Christmas Bird Count.” National Audubon Society > Conservation.
Available @ http://www.audubon.org/conservation/history-christmas-bird-count

“Join the Christmas Bird Count.” National Audubon Society > Conservation.
Available @ http://www.audubon.org/conservation/join-christmas-bird-count

National Audubon Society. “Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count.” YouTube. Dec. 21, 2012.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkn0rzRfwFw

National Audubon Society. “Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count -- Chan Robbins.” YouTube. Sept. 12, 2013.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFQJcCWj6O0