Christmas Bird Count

Join in the Annual Christmas Bird Count at Hagerman NWR!

This popular yearly event is organized by Austin College Ornithologist Dr. Wayne Meyer for the Hagerman Circle as part of the  annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count.  Here is the history behind the modern Christmas Bird Count, according to Audubon:

Prior to the turn of the 20th century, people engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas "Side Hunt": They would choose sides and go afield with their guns; whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won.

Conservation was in its beginning stages around in that era, and many observers and scientists were becoming concerned about declining bird populations. Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, an early officer in the then nascent Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition-a "Christmas Bird Census"-that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them.

So began the Christmas Bird Count. Thanks to the inspiration of Chapman and the enthusiasm of twenty-seven dedicated birders, twenty-five Christmas Bird Counts were held that day. The locations ranged from Toronto, Ontario to Pacific Grove, California with most counts in or near the population centers of northeastern North America. Those original 27 Christmas Bird Counters tallied around 90 species on all the counts combined. 

The Hagerman Circle count will be held on December 19 from 7 am to 5 pm.  Meet at the Visitor Center at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge and each person will be assigned to a team and work for half or all day. Experience is not required! What we need most are eyes to help find the birds for this important data gathering effort. Snacks will be provided by Friends of Hagerman NWR at the close of the count, at the Count Social, 4 - 6 pm. 

In addition Dr. Meyer will be tallying the owl count at 4:00 am for you extra early risers.

There is also another way people can contribute.  Any bird feeders within the count circle can be included in the day’s tally.  If you prefer,  you can be a feeder watcher if you live in one of these communities within the Hagerman NWR circle: Pottsboro, Sherwood Shores, Cedar Mills, Mill Creek, Locust, Fink, Tanglewood, Georgetown, Preston, and Gordonville. Please leave your email when registering so detailed instructions can be sent to you.

You can register for the  Christmas Bird Count by calling the Refuge, 903 786 2826.  

The  116th annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count joins thousands of volunteers throughout the Americas from December 14 through January 5. This is the longest-running citizen science census in the world, and is used to assess the health of bird populations.   According to Audubon, 

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.

The long term perspective is vital for conservationists. It informs strategies to protect birds and their habitat - and helps identify environmental issues with implications for people as well. 

There are over 2,300 “circles” including the Hagerman Circle that provide this important information to Audubon. For more information go to: birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count.

Christmas Bird Count at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge

On Saturday, December 15, at Hagerman NWR, volunteers will take part in a 113 year-old tradition established by the Audubon Society that has become known as the Christmas Bird Count.  Now hundreds of such counts, each one based in a 15-mile diameter circle, take place between  December 14  and January 5 each year. 

The task of the counters is to find and identify all the birds they can within the designated circle. The data collected in all these censuses have become one of the world’s most complete and long-term data sets on bird populations.  Most  Christmas counts cover the daylight hours and include a few hours of owl searching at night.

People of all interest levels have an opportunity to contribute to this grand project.  Being a birding expert is not necessary to aiding in the effort, according to Dr. Wayne Meyer, organizer for the Hagerman NWR Count, who says “The Hagerman NWR Christmas count circle is divided into six areas and each area has a designated leader who is skilled in identification.  What each team leader needs most is extra eyes to find the birds.  You don’t even have to commit to an all day search.  Several of our areas are small enough to be covered in half a day.” 

According to Audubon’s annual CBC report, American Birds, the 112th count was a record setter, with a total of 2248 CBC’s held in the US and Canada.  Texas was third in number of CBC’s, behind California and Ontario; there were 109 Texas counts, with Matagorda Island - Mad Island Marsh turning in the highest bird count number of species, 244.  HNWR reported 119 species.  Last year, Austin, Texas set the record for the number of CBC participants, 116! 

Two of the Austin counters were participants who counted birds at their home feeders, another way people can contribute.  Any bird feeders within the count circle can be included in the day’s tally.  If you live in the Hagerman Circle but don’t wish to spend part of your day in the field you can be a feeder watcher.  The Hagerman NWR Circle includes the communities of Pottsboro, Sherwood Shores, Cedar Mills, Mill Creek, Locust, Fink, Tanglewood, Georgetown, Preston and Gordonville.

For those unable to make it to Hagerman on December 15, or who do not live in the Hagerman NWR Circle, Audubon offers links to Counts across the country. 

All who want to participate at Hagerman NWR are to meet at the Friends of Hagerman building (formerly known as AV Center) at 7:00 AM to divide into teams.  Anyone interested in searching for owls is welcome to meet Dr. Meyer at the Friends building at 4:45 AM.  The Friends of Hagerman NWR will be hosting a compilation social at 5:00 PM, complete with supper!  All participants are encouraged to attend as the day’s results are added up.  Dr. Meyer says, “If you want to participate you can just show up on count day, but it would help my planning if you let me know you’ll be coming ahead of time.  You can send a message via comments or CONTACT  on the Friends website."

Hagerman NWR is located at 6465 Refuge Road, Sherman, Texas, 75092, on the Big Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma.

Audubon’s 112th Christmas Bird Count Is Model for “Crowd Science”

The Christmas Bird Count at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge will take place on Saturday, December 17. To participate, contact the Friends of Hagerman. For the post this week we have a press release from the national Audubon Society about the annual event:

The longest running Citizen Science survey in the world, Audubon’s annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) will take place from December 14, 2011 to January 5, 2012. Tens of thousands of volunteers throughout North America will brave winter weather to add a new layer to over a century of data.

“Audubon was a social network before the world ever heard the term,” notes David Yarnold, Audubon President & CEO. “Each December the buzz from our social network goes up a few decibels, as people with the knowledge and the passion for birds provide what no organization alone can.”

“It’s a globally recognized example of crowd-science,” says Gary Langham, Audubon’s Chief Scientist, who took his young daughter and wife on last year’s CBC. “Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count is also a tradition that does good things for families, communities, and the conservation movement.”

Scientists rely on the remarkable trend data of Audubon’s CBC to better understand how birds are faring in North America and beyond our borders. “Data from Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count are at the heart of hundreds peer-reviewed scientific studies,” adds Dr. Langham; “CBC data have informed the U. S. State of the Birds Report, issued by the Department of the Interior, and modeled after Audubon’s annual reports begun in 2004. For example, in 2009, CBC analyses revealed the dramatic impact Climate Change is already having on birds across the continent."

“Everyone who takes part in the Christmas Bird Count plays a critical role in helping us focus attention and conservation where it is most needed.” said Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count Director, Geoff LeBaron. “In addition to Audubon’s reports on the impacts of Climate Change on birds and our analysis of Common Birds in Decline, it is the foundation for Audubon’s WatchList, which most identified species in dire need of conservation help.”

The Audubon Christmas Bird Count began in 1900 when Frank Chapman, founder of Bird-Lore (which evolved into Audubon magazine) suggested an alternative to the “side hunt,” in which teams competed to see who could shoot the most game, including birds. Chapman proposed that people “hunt” birds only to count them. Chapman’s initiative was described by British actor John Cleese in this video clip from The Big Year.

Last year’s count shattered records. A total of 2,215 counts and 62,624 people tallied over 60 million birds. Counts took place in all 50 states, all Canadian provinces, plus 107 count circles in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands. The first ever CBC tally was submitted from Haiti, where the count circle is located at Les Cayes, the birthplace of John James Audubon. In Colombia, the Audubon count is a crucially important monitoring system of biodiversity in the country. More about last year’s results here.

Audubon CBC data not only helps identify birds in most urgent need of conservation action; it reveals success stories. The Christmas Bird Count helped document the comeback of the previously endangered Bald Eagle, and significant increases in waterfowl populations, both the result of conservation efforts.

Counts are often family or community traditions that make for fascinating stories. Accuracy is assured by having new participants join an established group that includes at least one experienced birdwatcher. Count volunteers follow specified routes through a designated 15-mile (24-km) diameter circle or can arrange in advance to count the birds at home feeders inside the circle and submit the results to a designated compiler. All individual Christmas Bird Counts are conducted between December 14 and January 5 (inclusive) each season, with each individual count occupying a single calendar day.

The journal Nature issued an editorial citing CBC as a "model" for Citizen Science.

A New York Times opinion piece captured the pleasure and precision of counting: “The personal joy they experience from patiently spotting and jotting down each flitting fellow creature, exotic or not, is balanced by a strong pragmatic factor in the management of the census by the National Audubon Society.”

Photo of Geese at Hagerman NWR by Robert Cummings

Christmas Bird Count

Time once again for the annual Christmas Bird Count. At Hagerman National WIldlife Refuge, birders of all levels of ability are needed for the 2009 count on Saturday, 19 December. Meet at the refuge headquarters, 6465 Refuge Rd., Sherman, TX, at 7:00 AM to divide into teams. Anyone interested in searching for owls is welcome to meet Dr. Wayne Meyer at the headquarters building at 4:45 AM. The Friends of Hagerman NWR will be hosting a compilation social at 5:00 PM. All participants are encouraged to attend as the day’s results are added. If you want to participate you can just show up on count day, but it would help in planning if you let Dr. Meyer know you’ll be coming ahead of time. He can be reached at wmeyer@austincollege.edu or you can leave voice mail at 903-813-2254.


Reporting for the 2008 count, Dr. Meyer said "The count wasn’t blessed with as many interesting species as 2007 but we got 112 species this year, which is a very high count in comparison to several of the previous years. Probably because of the number of participants, we managed to see pretty much everything that was around this year, only one species was found on the count circle during count week that wasn’t located on count day (Lincoln’s Sparrow). You can see our results at the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count page (and the results of previous years) at
http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/. A summary of the count for this year is also included below.

Our most unusual species was Barn Owl, our first since 1992. We also got Fish Crow, two on the Oklahoma side of the circle. We set record high numbers for Bufflehead, Common Loon, Great Egret, Cooper's Hawk, Barn Owl, Downy Woodpecker, Pine Warbler, Eastern Towhee, Chipping Sparrow and Vesper Sparrow. We had 21 participants, the most we've had in many years, plus we got 6 feeder watchers to join in.

Results for 2008:
Checklist
Species Number or cw Flags, Max Number, Number of counts
Greater White-fronted Goose 82, 1120 in 100 23
Snow Goose (white form) 5510, 10480 in 102 12
Snow Goose (blue form) 800, 1611 in 102 23
Ross's Goose 1400, 3100 in 104 23
Cackling Goose 162, 553 in 107 4
Canada Goose 609, 4249 in 86 15
Wood Duck 2 LC, 41 in 105 20
Gadwall 58, 632 in 101 23
American Wigeon 13, 88 in 108 20
Mallard 379, 3523 in 99 23
Northern Shoveler 59, 356 in 89 23
Northern Pintail 79, 2172 in 99 23
Green-winged Teal 385, 3081 in 106 6
duck sp. 2, 954 in 106 22
Canvasback 7, 69 in 107 13
Ring-necked Duck 55, 1227 in 106 23
Lesser Scaup 9, 81 in 96 22
Bufflehead 29 HC, 29 in 107 18
Common Goldeneye 2 ,10 in 90 15
Hooded Merganser 14, 48 in 89 23
Ruddy Duck 5, 27 in 107 12
Wild Turkey 8, 61 in 99 12
Common Loon 83, HC, 35 in 99 20
Pied-billed Grebe 7 LC, 35 in 87 23
Horned Grebe 1, 128 in 87 18
American White Pelican 11 LC, 285 in 108 23
Double-crested Cormorant 462, 2199 in 102 23
Great Blue Heron (Blue form) 69, 142 in 99 23
Great Egret 14 HC, 8 in 108 10
Black Vulture 320, 268 in 108 23
Turkey Vulture 242, 305 in 103 23
Bald Eagle 6, 32 in 99 23
Northern Harrier 6, 31 in 101 22
Sharp-shinned Hawk 3, 10 in 105 22
Cooper's Hawk 3 HC, 3 in 105 16
Red-shouldered Hawk 15, 24 in 105 23
Red-tailed Hawk 62, 101 in 95 23
Krider's Hawk 1, US, 0
American Kestrel 37, 63 in 93 23
Sora 3, 9 in 108 4
American Coot 143 ,724 in 106 23
Killdeer 23, 252 in 100 23
Greater Yellowlegs 19, 74 in 104 20
Least Sandpiper 34, 118 in 99 16
Wilson's Snipe 8, 35 in 103 5
Bonaparte's Gull 105, 3540 in 87 23
Ring-billed Gull 855, 31568 in 97 23
Herring Gull 7, 18 in 99 20
Forster's Tern 61, 338 in 107 23
Rock Pigeon 1, 43 in 108 3
Eurasian Collared-Dove 1 LC, 13 in 108 5
Mourning Dove 102, 297 in 97 23
Inca Dove 8, 9 in 106 4
Greater Roadrunner 2, 19 in 88 20
Barn Owl 2 HC, US, 1 in 93 1
Great Horned Owl 1, 7 in 86 12
Barred Owl 5 ,16 in 87 22
Belted Kingfisher 8, 23 in 105 23
Red-headed Woodpecker 4, 16 in 94 15
Red-bellied Woodpecker 54, 88 in 99 23
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 17, 39 in 105 23
Downy Woodpecker 57 HC, 55 in 99 23
Hairy Woodpecker 4, 7 in 87 21
Northern (Yellow-shafted) Flicker 90, 157 in 93 23
Pileated Woodpecker 5, 10 in 105 20
Eastern Phoebe 16, 22 in 105 21
Loggerhead Shrike 12, 87 in 87 23
Blue Jay 116, 343 in 102 23
American Crow 394, 8492 in 95 23
Fish Crow 2 US, 3 in 103 3
Horned Lark 73, 196 in 93 22
Carolina Chickadee 243, 341 in 99 23
Tufted Titmouse 132, 92 in 86 22
White-breasted Nuthatch 11, 15 in 102 20
Brown Creeper 9, 19 in 91 23
Carolina Wren 59 HC, 69 in 95 23
Bewick's Wren 6, 15 in 89 22
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2, 36 in 87 21
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 45, 78 in 108 23
Eastern Bluebird 293, 480 in 102 23
Hermit Thrush 5, 23 in 86 22
American Robin 572, 16763 in 93 23
Northern Mockingbird 77, 154 in 105 23
Brown Thrasher 5, 23 in 88 23
European Starling 783, 101388 in 87 23
American Pipit 10, 104 in 95 19
Cedar Waxwing 333, 1710 in 93 23
Orange-crowned Warbler 4, 9 in 105 10
Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler 162, 730 in 93 22
Pine Warbler 9 HC, 6 in 101 9
Spotted Towhee 2, 8 in 89 16
Eastern Towhee 3 HC, 3 in 107 9
Chipping Sparrow 272 HC, 184 in 108 21
Field Sparrow 45, 287 in 100 23
Vesper Sparrow 27 HC, 23 in 96 21
Savannah Sparrow 46, 252 in 108 23
Le Conte's Sparrow 1 LC, 22 in 96 16
Fox Sparrow 14, 72 in 100 23
Song Sparrow 27, 211 in 99 23
Lincoln's Sparrow cw 25 in 93 21
Swamp Sparrow 3, 42 in 87 21
White-throated Sparrow 103, 289 in 86 23
Harris's Sparrow 90 512 in 93 23
White-crowned Sparrow 151, 278 in 93 23
sparrow sp. 69, 275 in 96 19
Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco 693, 933 in 94 22
Northern Cardinal 381, 521 in 93 23
Red-winged Blackbird 149, 13332 in 87 23
Eastern Meadowlark 2, 892 in 94 23
Western Meadowlark 1, 8 in 103 19
meadowlark sp. 254, 3125 in 92 23
Brewer's Blackbird 40, 639 in 93 19
Common Grackle 5, 21230 in 88 22
Brown-headed Cowbird 77, 1132 in 88 22
blackbird sp. 305, 9895 in 88 23
House Finch 2 LC, 177 in 99 16
Pine Siskin 6 LC, 83 in 108 12
American Goldfinch 438, 960 in 102 23
House Sparrow 95, 260 in 88 23
TOTAL INDIVIDUALS COUNTED 19304
TOTAL SPECIES REPORTED 112 +1 cw
cw = Reported count week;
US = Flagged as an unusual species;
HC = Flagged as an unusually high count.
LC = Flagged as an unusually low count.

For more information about Hagerman NWR, see http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/texas/hagerman/index.html, and for information about programs and activities at the Refuge, see http://www.friendsofhagerman.com/.