On December 16th, Wild River Audubon will participate in the North American Christmas Bird Count (CBC) for the 47th year. Our CBC is the longest data-collecting endeavor in East-Central Minnesota in the history of the state. And it is not a government program, it is Citizen-Science! In this, we join with hundreds of other counts, and hundreds of thousands of counters in Canada, the United States and Mexico to tally our bird populations in the 10-day period either side of Christmas.
Why Christmas? The answer reaches far back into Western civilization to pagan times in Europe, when the winter solstice was observed by killing a wren. In pagan mythology, the wren is given all sorts of meanings that we don’t assign to the little birds today, and it was a target to be hunted at Christmastime. Later, on this continent, the custom was generalized to killing all birds. After Christmas dinner, men and boys participated in a “Christmas Shoot.”
In 1900—not that long ago—a banker turned ornithologist in New York City, Frank Chapman, suggested that instead of killing birds on Christmas Day, people count them. At time he was editor of Bird-Lore, a magazine he had founded, which would later morph into Audubon Magazine. In a 1900 issue, he proposed an alternative to the Christmas hunt. Twenty-seven bird lovers took part in that first year, counting at 25 different locations. Together they tallied 90 species. The CBC has been held every year since, despite wars, economic recessions, and two pandemics.
Our chapter counts the exact same area every year, a circle centered at County Roads 9 and 12, and extending with a diameter of 15 miles. When laid out, the circle was designed to include a portion of Wild River State Park, the Sunrise River, and Carlos Avery Wildlife Refuge. These are features that usually have open water that would attract water birds that might overwinter here. Although WRA counters meet early and begin counting just before sunrise, the official count time includes the nighttime hours—owls one might hear in the dark can be included in the count. WRA has many counters that keep tabs at their own feeders, who greatly enhance the accuracy of estimation of number of birds in the circle.
The data we collect are compiled locally by a designated point person, Joe Sausen, and then he delivers the number to a state-wide compiler. The data collected over time are used to identify long term trends like population increases or decreases over North America. It has been helpful in marking the progression in climate change. For example, WRA used to record Evening Grosbeaks, a northern species which is long-gone from our area. Instead, we now tally occasional Tufted Titmice and Carolina Wrens, southern species that are moving north.
Give yourselves a pat on the back, all you counters, whether roaming in cars or watching your feeders. The world needs more Citizen Scientists.
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