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.