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CHELAN
Monday, December 29
Steve Easley, seasley@wenval.com or
509-682-2318.
CLE ELUM
Wednesday, December
19
Michael Hobbs , BirdMarymoor@verizon.net or
425-869-2370.
GRAND COULEE
Tuesday, December 30
David St. George, hartashkip@yahoo.com or
509-667-7472.
LEAVENWORTH
Sunday, January 4
Karen Haire, karenhaire@nwi.net or
509-548-4566.
MOSES LAKE
Saturday, December 20
Doug Schonewald, dschone8@donobi.net or
(509) 766-0056.
OKANOGAN-OMAK
Sunday, December 28.
Contact Heather or Todd
at 509-846-04756, or heather@eaglesun.net
TWISP
Sunday, December 28
Ken Bevis , krbevis@methownet.com
WENATCHEE
Sunday, December 21
Dan Stephens, dstephens@wvc.edu or
509-682-6752
From the December issue of the Phlox:
In the midst of the
busy holiday season, tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the
Americas will take part in an adventure that has become a family tradition
among generations. For over one hundred years, the desire to both make
a difference and to experience the beauty of nature has driven dedicated
people to leave the comfort of a warm house in the middle of winter
to go count birds. These Citizen Scientists are taking action for conservation.
By participating in Audubon’s
Christmas Bird Count, they help scientists understand how birds are
faring amid unprecedented environmental challenges. The data they collect
informs the world about the State of the Birds, and provides the information
we need to shape their future and ours. Count volunteers follow routes
through a designated 15- mile (24-km) diameter circle, counting every
bird they see or hear all day. It’s not just a species tally—all
birds are counted all day, giving an indication of the total number
of birds in the circle that day. If observers live within a CBC circle,
they may arrange in advance to count the birds at their feeders and
submit those data to their compiler. All individual CBC’s are
conducted in the period from December 14 to January 5 (inclusive dates)
each season, and each count is conducted in one calendar day. The fi
rst CBC was done on Christmas Day of 1900 as an alternative activity
to an event called the “side hunt” where people chose sides,
then went out and shot as many birds as they could. The group that
came in with the largest number of dead birds won the event. Frank
Chapman, a famed ornithologist at the American Museum of Natural History
and the editor of Bird-Lore (which became the publication of the National
Association of Audubon Societies when that organization formed in 1905)
recognized that declining bird populations could not withstand wanton
over-hunting, and proposed to count birds on Christmas Day rather than
shoot them. CBC participants are organized into groups, or fi eld parties,
by the Compiler of each Count. Each fi eld party covers a specifi c
area of the 15-mile diameter circle on a specifi c route. And anyone
is welcome to participate, since Compilers arrange fi eld parties so
that inexperienced observers are always out with seasoned CBC veterans.
The data collected by observers over the past century allow researchers,
conservation biologists, and interested individuals to study the long-term
health and status of bird populations across North America . For example
in the 1980’s CBC data were used to document the decline of wintering
populations of the American Black Duck, after which conservation measures
were put into effect to reduce hunting pressure on this species. There
is a $5.00 fee per fi eld participant per count. Feeder watchers do
not need to pay the fee and all observers 18 and under may count for
free. These fees help to cover the costs of generating materials for
Compilers, producing an annual CBC summary issue, and maintaining the
CBC website and database.
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