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© Tom Moore

Counting birds isn't just for the experts!

Around the world, men, women, and children count birds in backyards, parks, forests and fields. Not only is it great fun, it's a terrific contribution to Audubon’s science, policy, and education programs.

The Christmas Bird Count is the oldest continuously collected data set on birds in North America, all thanks to citizen-scientists! Before the turn of the 20th century, a tradition called “side hunts” led to the slaughter of untold number of songbirds. Following Christmas dinner, families would form teams or “sides” and set out to see which side could kill the most birds. Rivalries formed between towns, which also competed against each other to see who could produce the biggest pile of dead birds. One man, Frank Chapman, stemmed the tide of this senseless slaughter by starting the Christmas Bird Count, which encouraged people to team up and count the number of live birds they could find within a pre-determined area. The CBC now provides us with more than 100 years of data and is incredibly valuable in tracking changes in bird populations and distributions.

While claiming a shorter history than the CBC, the Great Backyard Bird Count is another successful citizen-science effort. Conducted over President’s Day weekend in February of each year, this effort encourages bird watchers to get out and count birds wherever they’d like to—essentially in their own back yards. It’s a simple process to keep track of where you count, how long you count, and which (and how many) birds you see. This effort will also help build a long-term data set that will allow us to track bird populations.

Audubon’s Important Bird Areas Program needs citizen-scientists to conduct bird surveys on our IBAs. If you live near an IBA, or are visiting one, you can help us out by conducting a bird survey on one of these critical landscapes. Because some of these are very large landscapes, and some are completely or partially in private ownership, you’re encouraged to contact Audubon Washington’s Science Coordinator to discuss the details of where and when you’d like to survey. Like the CBC and the GBBC, surveying an IBA involves recording when you count, how big of an area you survey, and which and how many birds you see. It’s easy, and a great way to explore the great outdoors!

Other citizen science efforts valuable to birds include Breeding Bird Surveys, bird banding, and Project Feeder Watch.