(Image courtesy of/& used with permission)
Boxing Day 2021. What a great way to work off Christmas Dinner with a walk in the woods counting birds. The Woodstock Field Naturalists' Club held their 88th Christmas Bird Count on December 26, 2021. I joined the Club in 1993 and participated most every year in the Count.
While the Woodstock Field Naturalists' Club held their 88th Christmas Bird Count, this year marked the 122nd year of inception of the Christmas Bird Count. Prior to the 20th century, hunters participated “in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas "Side Hunt," the group who shot the biggest pile of birds won. (From Audubon website)
Due to scientists who were concerned about declining bird populations, a new holiday tradition was started on Christmas Day in 1900. “Ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, an early officer in the then-nascent Audubon Society, proposed … a "Christmas Bird Census" that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them.” (From Audubon website) On that day, 27 birders participated in 25 Christmas Bird Counts that ranged from Toronto, Ontario to Pacific Grove, California who counted 90 species of birds. (Click to a link of the first Christmas Bird Count)
The Christmas Bird Counts occur around December 14 through January 5 each year. Thousands of volunteers throughout North and South America take part in the count in all weather conditions. From The Audubon Society website, “the data collected by observers over the past century allow Audubon researchers, conservation biologists, wildlife agencies and other interested individuals to study the long-term health and status of bird populations across North America. When combined with other surveys such as the Breeding Bird Survey, it provides a picture of how the continent's bird populations have changed in time and space over the past hundred years.” (From Audubon website)
While the Woodstock Field Naturalists' Club held their 88th Christmas Bird Count, this year marked the 122nd year of inception of the Christmas Bird Count. Prior to the 20th century, hunters participated “in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas "Side Hunt," the group who shot the biggest pile of birds won. (From Audubon website)
Due to scientists who were concerned about declining bird populations, a new holiday tradition was started on Christmas Day in 1900. “Ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, an early officer in the then-nascent Audubon Society, proposed … a "Christmas Bird Census" that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them.” (From Audubon website) On that day, 27 birders participated in 25 Christmas Bird Counts that ranged from Toronto, Ontario to Pacific Grove, California who counted 90 species of birds. (Click to a link of the first Christmas Bird Count)
The Christmas Bird Counts occur around December 14 through January 5 each year. Thousands of volunteers throughout North and South America take part in the count in all weather conditions. From The Audubon Society website, “the data collected by observers over the past century allow Audubon researchers, conservation biologists, wildlife agencies and other interested individuals to study the long-term health and status of bird populations across North America. When combined with other surveys such as the Breeding Bird Survey, it provides a picture of how the continent's bird populations have changed in time and space over the past hundred years.” (From Audubon website)
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