Christmas
Bird Count
In 1900, American ornithologist Frank Chapman asked birders across
North America to head out on Christmas Day to count the birds in
their home towns and submit the results as the first "Christmas Bird
Census." His suggestion has evolved into one of the largest
organized birding events in the world, and a holiday tradition
during the Christmas season for over 50,000 birders each year.
The Christmas Bird Count, as it is now called, is conducted in over
2000 localities across Canada, the United States, Latin America, and
the Caribbean. These bird observations, collected during one-day
field counts within defined circular areas, have been amassed into a
huge database that reflects the distribution and numbers of winter
birds over time.
For many years, the Christmas Bird Count was organized at the
continental scale by the New York-based National Audubon Society. In
2000, Audubon and Bird Studies Canada (BSC) finalized an agreement
that would see BSC partner with Audubon to coordinate counts in this
country.
Contact information:
