Join in on Audubon’s Winter Bird Count
A garden isn’t a garden without birds. From the orange, black and white towhees scratching through fallen leaves for bugs, to hummers sipping on a red-flowering sage, we are blessed in the Sierra foothills by their visitations. If you’re a bird lover, winter is a special season, because there are several opportunities to participate in Audubon bird counts—for fun, and for science.
Audubon’s 125th Christmas Bird Count (CBC), which includes participants from around the world, will occur between December 14, 2024, and January 5, 2025. The data gathered from this long-running count is used by Audubon and other organizations to assess the health of bird populations, so it is a highly structured process. If you want to participate, you must sign up in advance with an Audubon-designated, regional CBC group and receive instruction from the group leader. Audubon’s Central Sierra Chapter sponsors three CBC groups in our area: Sonora, Angels Camp and Calaveras. Each group is assigned one day during the count period on which they tally bird sightings within a specified 15-mile circle. If participants live within the boundaries of the circle, they can cozy up at home and count birds that visit their yard, as long as they have made prior arrangements with a group leader.
This year the bird-count dates are: Sonora, Saturday, December 14; Angels Camp, Saturday, December 21; and Calaveras, Saturday, December 28. The Sonora group leader is Kit DeGear at (925)-822-5215 or kdegear@gmail.com; the Angels Camp leader is Bruce McClenahan at (209)-323-0739 or bgmcclenahan@gmail.com; and the Calaveras leaders are Keith and Sandra Maurer, maurer8983@gmail.com. Seasoned as well as novice birders are welcome in each group, so people with less experience have a great opportunity for learning. To learn more about Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count, visit https://www.audubon.org/community-science/christmas-bird-count/join-christmas-bird-count.
Audubon also sponsors the annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) in February of each year. For 2025 the count will occur between February 14 and 17. It is much less structured than the Christmas count, in that anyone can conduct a bird tally for as little as 15 minutes anytime during the four-day GBBC event, then enter their sightings online in multiple ways, including mobile apps, laptop or desktop.
According to Audubon, your bird counts “help scientists better understand and protect birds around the world.” In 2024, participants from 210 countries or subregions identified approximately 7,920 species!
In addition, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology hosts “Project FeederWatch” for participants in the US and Canada every November through the following April. According to their website, https://feederwatch.org/about/project-overview/, “Project FeederWatch turns your love of feeding birds into scientific discoveries. FeederWatch is a November-April survey of birds that visit backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America.” You choose when you want to watch during that time span and watch as little or as much as you like.
Another wonderful resource for birders is eBird.org, managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. eBird invites you to join “the world’s largest birding community” and says it “transforms the global birding community’s passion for birds into a powerful resource for research, conservation, and education.”
Happy birding!
Rachel Oppedahl is a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener of Tuolumne County.
