Want to know more about birds? Now’s your chance. The annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count is a great way to learn from local experts and birding enthusiasts. Don’t wait, it’s happening soon – read on.
If you’re a Texas Master Naturalist, joining a Count Circle is a fun way to earn a lot of volunteer hours in one day, discover some of the expert birding locations, meet local birders who might take you under wing (pun intended) and help nurture your birding knowledge. Hundreds of individuals join our local counts each year: residents, visitors, Winter Texans, students, Texas Master Naturalists. It is a citizen science opportunity.
The CBC is a one day event per area within established count circles. Globally, the count is held from December 14 through January 5, 2025. Local counts are listed below with contact information for those interested in joining a team.
December 14, Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, nurse_anne@msn.com
December 17, Coastal Tip, naturalist@spibirding.com
December 21, Weslaco, john.yochum@tpwd.texas.gov
December 26, Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, txlacbc@flanwr.org
December 29, Falcon Dam and State Park, idratherbebirding@gmail.com
January 3, 2025, Anzalduas-Bentsen, roy.rodriguez@tpwd.texas.gov
January 3, 2025, Brownsville, karl.berg@utrgv.edu
January 4, 2025, Harlingen, hgtxcbc@gmail.com
Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge Circle encompasses McAllen, Hidalgo, Sharyland, Pharr, San Juan and Alamo.
Coastal Tip Circle includes Laguna Vista, Laguna Heights, Port Isabel, South Padre Island and south to the Rio Grande River.
Weslaco Circle includes Donna, Mercedes, La Feria and south to Progresso.
Brownsville Circle includes Resaca de la Palma State Park, Fish Hatchery Road, Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park, Padre Island Blvd., The Nature Conservancy Southmost Preserve, Sabal Palm Audubon Grove, UTRGV campus, downtown Brownsville, and more.
Global Count Circles: https://gis.audubon.org/christmasbirdcount/
You can join any count circle no matter where you live, just e-mail the contact above to make arrangements. You could probably do more than one count if you’d like. If you’re curious about out-of-the-way places or have been thinking about camping at Falcon Dam and State Park, well, think about that!
Novice birders are encouraged to join a team. The extra eyes are always a help at finding birds. It’s an amazing learning experience for those wanting to learn bird identification and habits.
The official day runs 24 hours – midnight to midnight. Most teams begin at daybreak and stay out in the field until their area is covered. Owling is done before daybreak. Team leaders are responsible for recording the bird count, the participants, weather data, times and miles traveled on the official tally sheet.
Ideally, there are four people on a team. While some are spotting, others are identifying, counting, re-counting and recording on the tally sheets.
Depending on the size of areas assigned, teams may stay out all day, especially if they have numerous hot spots. Some may take only half a day and a team may go back and re-cover the area for missed or new species.
Rare Birds have been spotted during the counts. In the past 15 years clay-colored thrush, gray hawk and groove-billed ani have reached this status in the Harlingen Circle. A rare bird spotting has to be fully documented on an appropriate form. Once a bird has appeared on at least three consecutive CBC counts in an area, it no longer requires documentation.
If you have a lot of birds on your property, but can’t identify them, if your property is inside a circle, get in touch with the contact and invite a team to visit your property on count day if it’s feasible for them to work that in.
Feeder Watch. Not everyone can spend a whole day counting birds – but a few minutes watching your own yard, or feeder, can greatly enhance the quality of the count if your feeder is within a count circle.
Birds coming to feeders are not totaled over the entire day – only the high number of individuals of any species seen at one time would do it.
To participate in Feeder Watch, e-mail the appropriate contact and they will send you the short instructions and a tally sheet with the list of birds. If your property includes water birds, be sure to mention it and get a more comprehensive list of birds.
I haven’t regaled you with collective bird nouns for a while. Just for fun, what do you call a group of vultures feeding around a carcass? Answer: a wake of vultures.
A group of vultures in flight formation is called a kettle, because they appear to look like a bubbling kettle. Vultures are social birds and are often seen in groups on the ground or in trees. They often roost together with black vultures at communal roosts – sometimes by the hundreds. At those times, they would be referred to as a venue, volt or committee of vultures.
Google: collective bird nouns or make up your own, (like I did for the Ani) but there are rules.
Three Quick Rules: 1. The noun should reflect a trait of the species; 2. The noun can evoke an image or mood that the birds create; and 3. Alliteration is always a plus but not necessary.
Examples:
Cackle of grackles
Murmuration of starlings
Swoop of swallows
Squadron of pelicans
Rush of whistling ducks
Undulation of blackbirds
Gulp of swallows
Canteen of spoonbills
Congress of cormorants
Wedge of egrets
Pandemonium of parrots
Squabble of seagulls
You won’t need the collective name for the CBC, but never mind – keep counting!
In its 125th year, the bird count tradition dates to when officers in the then newly established Audubon Society proposed to take a census of birds rather than hunt them for sport. Globally, the Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count includes destinations and countries from as far north as the Artic Bay, east from St. Jon’s and Ferryland in Newfoundland, west to Southern Guam, and from the northern most area of Alaska, south through Canada, the U.S., Mexico, South America and down to Drake Passage in the South Atlantic Ocean.
The annual count is a citizen science survey where volunteer bird watchers provide the census data. The event is conducted by the National Audubon Society, an environmental organization devoted to the conservation of birds.
For more information visit: https://www.audubon.org/conservation/join-christmas-bird-count