Christmas Bird Counting

My favorite part about the holidays has nothing to do with the holidays themselves. Sure, I enjoy pulling out my Christmas music to decorate the tree, watching people's faces light up when they receive my gifts, and spending time with family and friends that I rarely get to see, but the part that I look forward to the most is the time I spend with fellow birders on the holiday tradition known as the Christmas Bird Count.

It may sound like an odd holiday tradition, but the CBC as its called for short is one of the earliest movements toward bird conservation in this country, and has created the longest-running database of bird distribution in North America. The CBC was started in 1900 as an alternative to a long-standing tradition of hunting birds on Christmas Day, where the goal was to shoot as many birds as possible to win. An early conservationist realized that bird populations could not sustain such a tradition, and created the count tradition to draw people away from hunting the birds. Over the years the count has slowly spread across the country, with volunteers coming together to start their own count in communities nationwide. The National Audubon Society organizes the count each year, though the majority of the work is done by local count compliers who organize the volunteers in their own circle. The CBC is a volunteer-run effort to count birds within a predetermined area year after year between December 14th and January 5th to determine the presence and distribution of birds in circles across the continent. t. Count circles are 15 miles wide and are usually centered around a city in a way that includes both residential areas and birding hotspots, as both are equally important to determining how bird populations are adapting to changes in the landscape due to human activity.Thousands of birders commit to spending an entire day during the busy holiday season to help with the effort, and many birders partake in more than one count. Most volunteers commit to birding from dawn until dusk, with some eager birders even starting before dawn in the hopes of catching owls before first light. Volunteers are drawn to the count for a reason to get outside, the hopes of seeing an unusual species, and the fun of gathering with fellow birders at the end of the day. The number of volunteers in each circle varies greatly, but even in lesser populated areas at least a dozen birders can be expected to join the effort. When twelve birders spend 8 hours each looking for birds, it's amazing what kinds of species they often find. At the evening gatherings of volunteers that follow everyone is always eager to find out who had the biggest surprise, or the rarest bird, on that day.

Getting up at sunrise has its perks, this was the sunrise over Lake Champlain on the day of the Plattsburgh CBC

I've been participating in CBC's since I learned what one was, just after I graduated college in 1998. I remember how excited I was to get out and look for birds and contribute my findings to the long-running database. My first count was the Rennssalear CBC just outside of Albany, NY. I had recently joined the Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club, which was full of expert birders who were eager to share their birding skills with youngins like me. Many of the club members volunteered for the count, and were undoubtedly more skilled than I was at bird identifictation. I had only been birding for a little over a year, having taken ornithology in my junior year of college. But expert birding skills aren't needed to help with a CBC, since the majority of birds that one counts in the northeast are common feeder birds such as chickadees and house sparrows. Our best bird of the day was a Cooper's Hawk that we saw perched on a log with its lunch, a chickadee, in its talons. Not bad for a pair of beginner birders on their first CBC.

A Red-tailed Hawk on the Plattsburgh count

Since then I've participated in counts in a number of places in NY, but the ones I've participated in the most are the ones in Plattsburgh and Saranac Lake. These two counts are undoubtedly some of the coldest and snowiest counts in the U.S., and are not for less hardy souls. While much of the count can be accomplished from the warmth of a heated car, there is always walking to be done as well. This year's Plattsburgh CBC was the coldest one I've done yet, on December 18th, with a morning temperature of only 2 degrees. The temperature reached into the teens by mid-day, but the wind made sure we stayed nice and cold regardless. Cold snaps like that aren't the best for seeing birds, as many species would be less active on cold days, and some lingering migrants may finally push out as the cold front comes in. But it wasn't a bad day for me and my birding partner, as we managed to find 34 species that day, the most I've ever had on the Plattsburgh count. The species we found included 2 lingering loons, 5 bluebirds, a hardy Great-Blue Heron, and a flyover Plieated Woodpecker. The best bird of the day (and possibly of the whole count circle) was undoubtedly the Yellow-Rumped Warbler that we found in someone's front yard. Warblers are insectivores, and as such usually migrate south in late September and early October to places where the insects aren't frozen to death. In the 39 years of Plattsburgh counts this species has only been recorded one other time. The fact that it remains here now is likely due to the mild winter that we have had thus far, where I was seeing insects on my hikes as late as mid-November. But with the recent cold weather, I hope this little warbler has the sense to leave soon, as there won't be any insects around here for another few months.

Birders cover everywhere they can in the circle, including this airport
 in Charleston, SC, which was a good spot for grassland birds

When one gets up before dawn and spends an entire day birding one expects that they will be rewarded with good species of birds every time. In twelve years of CBC's I can assure you that for every exciting count I've done I've had another not-so-exciting count. One year I spent the day snowshoeing 7 miles in a snowstorm for the Saranac Lake CBC, only to have a total of 8 species for the entire day, the fewest I've ever had. Due to it being one of the coldest places in the continental U.S. the Saranac Lake CBC has less diversity that most counts, and most years I count between 15-20 species in my territory. On the Plattsburgh count I usually have a twenty-something species. The most exciting count I ever did was last year, when my work had me in South Carolina during CBC season. Having only ever done CBC's in upstate NY, counting birds in an area where all the birds migrate to for the winter was a completely different experience--there were birds everywhere and I could feel my fingers the whole time! At the end of the day we had 76 species, and for me every one of them was exciting. We birded in a variety of places including a residential development, an airport, and a saltmarsh along the river. There were so many birds it was a challenge to count all of them, and I'm sure that a few were missed. In NY that never happens, as birds are usually seen in small numbers and the only challenge is determining how big the flock of chickadees is every time you hear one calling. As much as I love helping with the counts in my own community, I hope I can get away to do another warm-weather count in the future.


While most people will be ringing in the new year recovering from the prior night's festivities, I'll be ringing it in with, you guessed it, counting birds. The Saranac Lake CBC is on New Year's Day this year, and I'll be out there at sunrise looking for birds. This year should be a good count, and I have a feeling that I'll break my Saranac Lake CBC record this year (which is only 17 species) with the amount of ducks that are still hanging around and the number of finch species that have invaded the north country this year. I'm excited that the forecast is calling for temperatures in the 30's, which is warmer than most counts I can remember. And the best part, what I look forward to most, is being able to see all my birder friends afterward, in a gathering of merriment where we share birding stories from the past year as well as the day's adventures. In a world where birders are a rarity themselves, I always enjoy being surrounded by people with the same passion as me, who will laugh at my bird stories because they understand. It's a fitting end to the holiday season, and I'll anxiously look forward to next year.