How To Join A Christmas Bird Count in Florida

To find those in charge of the nearest Christmas Bird Count (CBC), contact your local Audubon Society club or visit the national website: http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/index.html

Be prepared for a full day outdoors, realizing that it may be much warmer in the afternoon than it was at daybreak. Dress in layers so clothes can be shed when necessary. Always be prepared for rain.

To casual bird watchers, serious birders can be a curious sort. Some enjoy their activity alone and in solitude, while others prefer the camaraderie of the group.

Regardless, they all take unparalleled delight in spotting any new species, no matter how distant or how small the subject may be, and a few of them are as competitive as any major league baseball player in striving for the most hits.

The CBCs are competitive to a certain degree since individuals in count groups may strive against each other, while the various groups within a state are competing, too, for the highest count of individual birds, species totals or the best list of rarities.

The individual bird counts are sometimes the greatest challenge: pity those who have to count acres and acres of coots!

Data from the CBC is published annually by American Birds, the national magazine of the Audubon Society. The amount of data is encyclopedic: the telephone book-sized volume contains detailed facts and figures from each of the count sites.

This annual tally, the longest and most continuous information source on North American winter bird populations, has become a valuable reference for scientists. It reveals hints of many different kinds of trends, from the status of wintering red-tailed hawks to the range expansion of songbirds.

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