By: Dayna Inbody
December 16, 2023
The Prairie Oaks Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalist program completed its sixth year contributing to the Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC). This is an approved citizen science project in our chapter. Each year from December 14th to January 5th, tens of thousands of volunteers in all 50 states brave the snow, wind, cold, or rain to take part in this effort.
While we will never reach the glory of Matagorda County which has led the US for I believe 15 years in a row, we once again had a great turnout, decent weather as it warmed up a bit as the day went on, no rain, and a lot of fun birding with friends. This year we had 15 volunteers from Prairie Oaks and Rio Brazos chapters come together to complete the count in our Erath County Circle. Many thanks go to each of the landowners that gave us permission to enter their property to conduct our count again this year. With the help of the landowners in our area we have added lakes and stock ponds to our count and that has allowed us to count even more birds and add to our species list totals. Each year we send them a thank you and give them a tally of the species found on their property which they appreciate and can help them with the management of their land.
As many of us have learned through Audubon, the history of the Christmas Bird Count began when conservation was in its infancy and many scientists and those in nature observed a declining bird population. Frank M. Chapman, an early officer in the Audubon Society and also an ornithologist ,came up with a new holiday tradition to count birds rather than kill them during the holiday season. One hundred and twenty four years later Audubon is still conducting these Christmas Bird Counts and using the data collected to assess the health of our bird populations and to help with conservation action. It’s one of my favorite community science projects to work with. There is a wealth of information about the Christmas Bird Count including a tool to track how our favorite birds are faring over the decades put out by Audubon. Each year I use their site as a resource for our counts and data/information that I share with the teams and chapter.
As we have shared previously you don’t have to be an expert birder to participate. In fact it is a fun way to learn about your local bids from the group. The teams are made of spotters, recorders, drivers, birders and photographers. All are needed to make a team complete. So don’t let your birding skill or lack thereof deter you from joining in the event. We are always looking for more members to join us and we have a few ideas of how to add to the experience when we have enough volunteers. We’ll keep you posted on that as we build on this event. I have had a couple community members reach out to join us next year so it’s great to have more volunteers for this annual event. Please help spread the word for next year.
We recorded 90 species this year and counted over 4200 birds. As you will find on the Audubon website the data collected is used to assess the health and status of bird populations across North America. The data is used to protect the bird’s habitat, and to identify environmental issues that not only affect birds but humans too. For example, birds are an indicator species for climate change.
Please consider joining us December 14, 2024 for our annual CBC event. For any questions or suggestions please contact Dayna Inbody at inbodyd@gmail.com.
https://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count