Help needed for Audubon’s 122nd annual Christmas Bird Count

This is the 27th consecutive year of the Lyle Christmas Bird Count. Our count covers a 15 mile diameter circle centered next to Lyle and includes The Dalles, Chenoweth, the Mosier Valley, Dallesport, Lyle, and the High Prairie, Appleton and Snowden areas. Last year counters found 107 species of bird.

This year, the Audubon Christmas Bird Count will mobilize nearly 80,000 volunteer bird counters in more than 2,600 locations across the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America. The Audubon Christmas Bird Count utilizes the power of volunteers to track the health of bird populations at a scale that scientists could never accomplish alone. Data compiled in the Lyle CBC will record every individual bird and bird species seen in the count circle, contributing to a vast community science network that continues a tradition stretching back 120 years.

“The Christmas Bird Count is a great tradition and opportunity for everyone to be a part of 123 years of ongoing community science,” said Geoff LeBaron, Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count director, who first started leading the community science effort in 1987. “Adding your observations to 12 decades of data helps scientists and conservationists discover trends that make our work more impactful. Participating in the Christmas Bird Count is a fun and meaningful way to spend a winter for anyone and everyone.”

When combined with other surveys such as the Breeding Bird Survey, Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count provides a picture of how the continent’s bird populations have changed in time and space over the past hundred years. The long-term perspective is vital for conservationists. It informs strategies to protect birds and their habitat, and helps identify environmental issues with implications for people as well. Christmas Bird Count data have been used in more than 300 peer-reviewed articles.

Again for this year’s 123nd Christmas Bird Count will be “CBC Live,” a crowd-sourced, hemisphere-wide storytelling function using Esri mapping software. This “story-map” will ask users to upload a photo taken during their Christmas Bird Count as well as a short anecdote to paint a global picture of the Christmas Bird Count in real time.

Birders of all ages are welcome to contribute to this fun, nationwide community science project, which provides ornithologists with a crucial snapshot of our native bird populations during the winter months. Each individual count is performed in a count circle with a diameter of 15 miles. At least 10 volunteers, including a compiler to coordinate the process, count in each circle. The volunteers break up into small parties and follow assigned routes, which change little from year to year, counting every bird they see. In most count circles, some people also watch feeders instead of following routes.

The Lyle CBC is still looking for people to do feeder watches at home on the day of the count. To sign up for a feeder watch, please contact John Bishop at bishopjg@icloud.com.

The Audubon Christmas Bird Count is a free community science project organized by the National Audubon Society.

For more information and to find a count near you visit www.christmasbirdcount.org.

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A bird count for the Goldendale/Centerville area happens Jan. 1.