Mock Christmas Bird Count

Join PEEC and a group of birders of all experience levels for a Mock Christmas Bird Count, in anticipation of bringing the event to Los Alamos this December!

In the 1800’s, many in North America participated in a common holiday tradition of going out on Christmas day and competing to kill as many birds as possible. At the turn of the 20th century, American ornithologist Frank Chapman suggested that perhaps it would be a better idea to simply count the birds rather than shoot them. Chapman enlisted the help of 26 like-minded bird enthusiasts and in December of 1900, held the first annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC).

For the last 115 years, the National Audubon Society has been conducting these Christmas Bird Counts every winter. Volunteers gather to count and identify every bird they can find in a fixed 15-mile diameter circle over the course of one calendar day. Every year has attracted more volunteers than the last, as well as more count circles. This past holiday season drew approximately 75,000 people to counts in over 2,300 circles from the Arctic Circle to the southern tip of South America, including 33 counts in New Mexico. The CBC is now the nation’s longest-running citizen science project, and the data from the CBC archives have proven invaluable to ecologists and ornithologists studying the changes in bird populations and ranges over the last century.  

Local birders have decided that it is time to bring the Christmas Bird Count to Los Alamos, and they intend to submit an application to the National Audubon Society for a new count circle that includes the diverse bird habitats found in and around Los Alamos. We need your help!   The application deadline is still many months away, but we need to demonstrate to the Audubon Society that there is sufficient interest and logistical support to pull off a count in Los Alamos. To achieve this, we intend to put on a mock CBC in Los Alamos on Sunday, March 8th, and everyone is invited.  

There will be a core group of experienced birders leading field teams to various locations throughout Los Alamos county and surrounding locales for a full day of birdwatching. The event is open to all experience levels; even if you don’t know how to identify the local birds, the CBC field team leaders can assist. Every volunteer will be assigned to a team that includes at least one expert. There is no better way to learn how to recognize the local winter resident birds than to spend a day out amongst them. Some teams will be hiking up in the mountains or down to the river, others will take leisurely strolls in town. We can tailor the amount of physical effort required to match your tolerance for physical exertion. Even if you don’t want to hike at all, we need feeder watchers! If you have bird feeders in your yard and prefer to contribute from the comfort of your home, that’s great! The more people we can get watching birds on March 8th, the better.

The count will begin just before sunrise and will go through sundown. There will be a get-together with pizza after the count at a location to be announced, where we will compile all of the data from the count teams and share stories about what we saw and heard. There is no charge for participating, though a small donation will be requested if you choose to stay for the pizza.  

Please register if you would like to participate, for any amount of time or in any capacity - either on a field team or as a backyard feeder watcher - so that teams can be assembled and we have an accurate count of how many will be participating. For more information, contact Mouser Williams.