December 2, 2008

Get ready, it’s time to count birds

Posted in Animals, Birds, Christmas Bird Counts tagged , , , , , , , , , , , at 6:00 am by dpesek

It’s hard to get motivated to go outside to look for birds in the winter. It’s cold out, roads are slick, and snow on the ground creates difficult walking conditions. Your home is warm and comfy and a few birds come to your feeders. So why even bother to go out?

Christmas Bird Counts — that’s why!

The 2008 Christmas Bird Count season officially starts on Dec. 14 and runs through January 5.  All around the country birders will be out during this time period, carefully plotting their routes, staying inside the official “count circle” for their area, and scouring every nook and cranny for birds.

On CBC day, every bird counts. Not only do you count the number of bird species you find, you count the number of birds of that species as well. See 1 cardinal? Check. See another cardinal? Another check. Count every bird as best as you are able to estimate the flock size.

Certain birds appear in large numbers in Iowa. American Crows, Canada Geese, House Sparrows, Northern Cardinals, Mallards, Mourning Doves, Dark-eyed Juncos and European Starlings were the most-counted birds on the 2007 Iowa City CBC. (See results for past Iowa City CBCs here.)

Some CBCs have a friendly competition to see which can find the highest number of bird species. Generally, a CBC that has an open water source (such as a reservoir or a large river) will have a higher number of species since the waterfowl will flock to the open water.

Dedicated birders start their day before dawn with “owling” — checking habitat that should support owls and listening for the owls to call before the owls settle in for the day. On CBCs, you can count “heard” birds as well as “seen” birds.

Those of us who want to sleep just a little later still start the day at first light to search for birds. Birds, as a general rule, are more active during the morning hours than afternoon.

And birders who want to participate but don’t want to go outside can monitor their feeders and turn in their feeder reports.

The CBCs are sponsored by Audubon — you can read all about them here. The web site tells the history of the CBCs, how CBC information is used to monitor bird populations, how to get in contact with your local Audubon chapter, etc.

The Iowa Ornithologists’ Union maintains a web site that lists all Iowa CBCs, including contact information. You can find that web site here.

Locally, the Iowa City Bird Club has information about their CBC here.

So let the games begin. On Dec. 14 I’ll be out with the Iowa City Bird Club counting birds. And on Dec. 20 I’ll be out again with the Cedar Rapids Audubon group.

I can’t wait! It’s a highlight of the winter birding season for me.