Jean T. Smith (1931 – 2025)

By NANCY JANE KERN

DECEMBER 16, 2023, BEGAN the 124th National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count (CBC) season which continues through January 5, 2024. I called it a half CBC this year because Debbie Shaw, my birding partner of 50 years, broke her leg and couldn’t join me. She said she did something stupid, and I thought it best not to ask. I have a vision of her climbing onto the roof with her husband to install Christmas lights. She will eventually confess.

According to the Audubon Society, “far from having evolved into ‘just’ another holiday tradition, the Christmas Bird Count is increasingly accepted by ornithologists and conservationists alike as the best, if not only, tool available for assessing the long-term trends in the early winter bird populations of North America.” Each CBC area has an established 15-mile diameter circle with portions assigned to different groups of birders. One count day is chosen for a particular circle and participants identify and record all the species of birds and the numbers of each for their area. The first CBC was held in 1900 and was led by scientist and writer Frank Chapman. It was an alternative to the “side hunt,” a Christmas day activity in which teams competed to see who could shoot the most birds and small mammals. It is now considered the world’s most significant citizen-based conservation effort.

The Alan Devoe Bird Club (ADBC) conducts the Chatham CBC survey and members and volunteers watched feeders and surveyed hundreds of miles of Columbia County roads looking for birds. We were very fortunate to have chosen a beautiful day before the torrential rain and wind gusts hit our area. I usually drive and Debbie records the bird species and their numbers, and I missed her. One of the best parts of this count is the friendships and camaraderie.

I recorded my bird sightings on Cornell’s eBird reporting app on my cell phone. What a change technology has brought us. My first CBC was done on paper with my mother and another birder when I was 12 years old. It was snowy and very cold. This year was a warm fall that had not sent us many northern birds. Unappetizing as it is to us, the inefficient digestion of cattle leaves food for the birds and we have had quite a discussion about the loss of farms and decreasing birds in our area. Last year, the Audubon CBC included 2,624 count circles worldwide. In total, 79,005 observers out in the field and watching feeders tallied up more than 40 million birds representing about 2,500 different species with counts taking place in all 50 states and across the Western Hemisphere.

Information about the CBC can be found online at christmasbirdcount.org and alandevoebirdclub.org .