First Christmas Bird Count Took Place Christmas Day 1900

Summary: The first Christmas Bird Count, launched by ornithologist and Audubon Society member Frank Michler Chapman, took place Christmas Day 1900.

Among the results of the first Christmas Bird Count, held Christmas Day 1900, founder Frank Michler Chapman noted "the almost entire absence of such northern species as the Crossbills" (. 28); American crossbills (Loxia curvirostra minor), Devils Fork State Park, northwestern South Carolina, Jan. 18, 2013: Don Faulkner, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr

The first Christmas Bird Count, proposed and launched by ornithologist and Audubon Society member Frank Michler Chapman (June 12, 1864-Nov. 15, 1945) as an alternative to the North American overharvesting tradition of side hunts, took place Christmas Day 1900.

Chapman reported the results of the first Christmas Bird Count in the January-February 1901 issue of Bird-Lore. He had founded the magazine in 1899 as the official organ of the Audubon Societies.

Chapman noted the instructiveness of identifying the “distribution of winter birds on Christmas day.” He added:

“On the one hand the almost entire absence of such northern species as the Crossbills is noticeable; on the other, the mild season and prevailing absence of snow evidently accounts for the presence of a number of species rarely observed in December.” (page 28)

The first Christmas Bird Count was conducted at 25 locations. Census takers numbered 27.

Two sites in Canada participated. From 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., nine species, tallied at a total of 36 individuals, were counted at Scotch Lake, York County, New Brunswick. From 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., four species, totaled at 41 individuals, were counted in Toronto, Ontario.

Of the 23 counts sited in the United States, Pennsylvania claimed the most, with a total of five locations. A count over four hours yielded nine species, with individuals ranging from one to “immense flocks,” at Neshaminy Creek and Upper Delaware River above Philadelphia. A count lasting one and one-half hours in the morning noted 10 species, totaling 201 individuals, at Delaware River meadows, Tinicum Township, Delaware County. From 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., 10 species, with individuals ranging from one to “abundant,” were counted in Germantown, northwestern Philadelphia. From 8:20 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., 11 species, totaling about 1,140 individuals, were counted in Wyncote, Cheltenham Township, bordering North Philadelphia. A half-hour count yielded eight species, totaling 85 individuals, in southern Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park.

One count took place in California. From 10 a.m. until noon, 36 species accounted for about 475 individuals in Monterey County’s Pacific Grove.

One count occurred in Colorado. From 11 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., 14 species, with individuals ranging from one to thousands, were logged in Pueblo.

Two counts took place in Connecticut. From 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., seven species, totaling 68 individuals, were counted in Bristol. From 8 a.m. until 4:45 p.m., five species, totaling 45 individuals, were counted in Norwalk.

One count occurred in Illinois. Two sessions, running from 10 a.m. to noon and from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., tallied seven species, with 55 individuals, in Glen Ellyn.

One count took place in Louisiana. Five hours of counting yielded 8 species, with 715 individuals, in Baldwin.

Three counts were held in Massachusetts. Christmas Day counts were held at two sites. From 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., 17 species, totaling 1,593 individuals, were counted in Belmont and at Cambridge’s Fresh Pond. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., 10 species, totaling about 70 individuals, were counted in Winchester (north of Boston), near Mystic Pond.

From 9:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 26, the day after Christmas, 10 species, totaling about 70 individuals, were counted at Boston’s Arnold Arboretum.

One count was held in Missouri. From 9 a.m. until noon, 14 species, totaling 186 individuals, were tallied in La Grange.

One count occurred in New Hampshire. From 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., three species, totaling 18 individuals, were counted in Keene.

Three Christmas Bird Counts happened in New Jersey. The Christmas Bird Count’s launcher, Frank Chapman, conducted his count from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Englewood and recorded 18 species, totaling 320 individuals. From 10:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., 17 species, with individuals ranging from one to “several hundred,” were counted in Moorestown. From 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., 10 species, totaling 64 individuals, were noted in Newfield.

Two counts were held in New York. A count begun at 8 a.m. listed nine species, totaling 68 individuals, in Auburn, a Finger Lake city at the north end of central New York’s Owasco Lake. A count begun at 10 a.m. identified six species, with individuals ranging from one to “abundant,” in New York City’s Central Park.

One count happened in Ohio. From 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., 14 species, totaling 103 individuals, were counted in Oberlin.

One count took place in Wisconsin. From 8:50 a.m. to 11:10 a.m., 12 species, totaling 105 individuals, were noted in North Freedom, Sauk County.

Temperatures during the count ranged from a low of 16 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 8.88 degrees Celsius), reported in North Freedom, Wisconsin, to a high of 60 degrees F (15.55 degrees C), reported in Norwalk, Connecticut, and Pacific Grove, California. No temperatures were reported for New York’s Central Park or for three count sites in Pennsylvania (Delaware River meadows, Fairmount Park, Neshaminy Creek).

Apparently encouraged by readers’ appreciation of his census, Chapman announced the holding of a second Christmas Bird Count.

“The interest aroused by Bird-Lore’s Christmas Bird Census last year (see Bird-Lore for December, 1900, and February, 1901) suggests a repetition of this modern development of the ‘Side Hunt,’ on December 25, 1901, when we hope those of our readers who have the opportunity will take to the field and send us, the same day, the results of their observations.” (page 193)

The takeaway for the first Christmas Bird Count on Christmas Day 1900 is that Chapman’s census has continued to take place, as the United States’ first citizen science bird project, every year since its launch over a century ago.

Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) were counted at 16 of the 25 Christmas Day 1900 bird census sites; black-capped chickadee photographed outside US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Regional Office, Hadley, Hampshire County, west central Massachusetts, Jan. 1, 2012: via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast), via Flickr

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Among the results of the first Christmas Bird Count, held Christmas Day 1900, founder Frank Michler Chapman noted "the almost entire absence of such northern species as the Crossbills" (. 28); American crossbills (Loxia curvirostra minor), Devils Fork State Park, northwestern South Carolina, Jan. 18, 2013: Don Faulkner, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/faulkners_fowl_shots/8413786019/

Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) were counted at 16 of the 25 Christmas Day 1900 bird census sites; black-capped chickadee photographed outside US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Regional Office, Hadley, Hampshire County, west central Massachusetts, Jan. 1, 2012: via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast), via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsnortheast/8575465904

For further information:

American Ornithologists' Union. Check-List of North American Birds. Second and revised edition. New York NY: American Ornithologists' Union, 1895.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/item/47624

Brune, R. "Charming Chickadees." Duncraft Wild Bird Blog > Attract Birds. Nov. 25, 2009.
Available @ http://blog.duncraft.com/2009/11/25/charming-chickadees/

Chapman, Frank M. “A Christmas Bird Census.” Bird-Lore. Vol. III, no. 6 (November-December 1901): 193.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8613327

Chapman, Frank M. “The Christmas Bird Census.” Bird-Lore. Vol. III, no. 1 (January-February 1901): 28-33. Harrisburg PA; New York NY: The Macmillan Co., 1901.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8613139

Marriner, Derdriu. "Audubon Society's 117th Christmas Bird Count Is From Dec. 14 to Jan. 5." Earth and Space News. Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/12/audubon-societys-117th-christmas-bird.html