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.Around the turn of the last century, it was a tradition to
engage in a side hunt on Christmas day. It involved shooting
as many birds and small mammals as you could and the “winner”
had the largest catch. The Audubon society was a young
organization at that time and one of it’s members, an officer
of the New York chapter, named Frank Chapman, proposed that
instead of hunting birds that parties form to identify, count
and record as many birds as possible. And so on Christmas day,
December 25, 1900, the very first Christmas Bird Count was
held.
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Only 27 people participated that day, but they started a new
tradition that has evolved into the largest citizen science
project today in the world, with 50,000 participants in over
2,000 registered counts including every state in the United
States, Canada, Mexico and several other Central and South
American countries. The counting period has expanded from one
day to 3 weeks with each circle selecting one day from the
official period. This year CBC’s will be conducted from
December 14, 2007 until January 5, 2008 (Please see the
schedule of local counts in this newsletter). A count circle
is defined as a geographic location by the latitude and
longitude of its’ center point and a 15 mile diameter
radiating from this point. The circle is then divided into
navigable sections (by foot, car or canoe, by natural borders
or roads) that a party of usually 2 or more can cover in one
day (dawn to dusk if needed, with some participating in night
time owling). As each party moves through their section,
identifying and counting birds, they record their findings on
tally sheets. These are then turned over to the compiler who
compiles the data from all the sections of their circle and
then enters this data on the Audubon website. Audubon in turn
compiles and analyzes all of these entries and publishes the
results along with pertinent articles in “American Bird” which
comes out almost a year after the count. Scientists and
ornithologists at such institutions as Cornell University use
this information. It is also part of the US governments’
natural history database. For scientists’, this has proven to
be a valuable resource for learning about bird behavior and
movement. Changes in these patterns may indicate changes in
climate, habitat or a specific problem prompting further
studies to discover the causes for these changes. Therefore,
these bird counts have become indicators of environmental
health and a useful tool for conservation.
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The database of all of the counts starting from the first one
up to date is on the Audubon website. You can learn more about
it at
www.audubon.org using the birds/science/citizen
science/CBC links.
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This year, when you participate in a Christmas Bird Count, you
can think about all the others counting with you and know that
you are part of a great and traditional conservation effort.
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This article is dedicated to Fran Endicott,
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A founder of the Calmes Neck CBC circle,
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Longtime member and past president of the Northern Shenandoah
Valley Audubon Society
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