Audubon Christmas Bird Count!
What is the bird count, you say? Glad you asked! Over a century ago, a common yuletide tradition was to go on a Christmas bird hunt. Gentlemen would compete with each other to see who could hunt the most birds (erm…), which was obviously problematic to bird populations. So the Audubon Society started organizing an alternative activity: the Christmas Bird Counts. What may have begun as a few small groups of folks looking for birds became a the world’s largest and longest running community science events! Every year, around the the last two weeks of December or early January, Audubon chapters organize bird counts around their communities, and everyone is welcome to join! Because the event is held around the same time every year, the data collection is consistent enough to tell important stories about bird conservation, and the data has been used in a variety of different long-term and global studies.
Yesterday, Maria and Rob joined in a group led by Duquesne University faculty and graduate students to do a count in the North Hills. We saw blue jays, Carolina wrens, kinglets, blue jays, eastern towhees, red-tailed hawks, kingfishers, song sparrows, blue jays, white-throated sparrows, cardinals, crows, and so much more! Did we mention blue jays? Lots of blue jays, ha!
Cool huh! And if you haven’t joined one before, give it a try next year! Check out our local Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania for more information!
