Birders prepare for Christmas Bird Count
by Zamone Perez
Christmas, it turns out, is for the birds, at least for those that will be counted this year in the National Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count.
The nearly monthlong bird count takes place around the country. Birders will go through a circled area with a 15-mile radius, counting the number of birds they see or hear.
Steve Sheffield, professor of biology at Bowie State University and vice president of the Maryland Ornithological Society, said the data gathered across the country will help map the trends and movements in bird populations.
"You can look at the population trends of each of the species and see where they're headed, whether their trajectory is up or down or whether they're stable," Sheffield outlined. "You can also look at where you are seeing the numbers. You're getting an idea of how the birds are moving due to climate change."
For counters who can identify bird calls, Sheffield noted they only need to hear a bird in order to count it, which helps with species flying silently, such as owls.
Sheffield emphasized collecting a century's worth of data is invaluable to bird conservation efforts. Birds, he added, are often a strong indicator of the overall health of ecosystems and are easily found and measured the world over.
One of the trends the bird count tracks is what Sheffield called "irruptive species," those forced to move south because food supplies in their local ecosystems run low.
"We get these birds showing up, like snowy owls, evening grosbeaks, purple finches, red-breasted nuthatches," Sheffield observed. "You could go several years and you won't find any of them. All of a sudden, one year, you have many of those species. That tells you some information about their habitat conditions."
The bird count begins Dec. 14 and goes through Jan. 5. The count is conducted by thousands of volunteers in more than 20 countries in the Western Hemisphere.
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