A Century-Old Christmas Tradition: Counting Birds
Courtesy of Laurie Stone
There’s one holiday ritual that goes back a long time, and it doesn’t involve strings of lights, office parties, giving presents or baking cookies.
It’s the Christmas Bird Count, a tradition that began in 1900, according to the Audubon Society, when an ornithologist suggested counting birds, instead of what had been the Christmas tradition of hunting them.
Now, in the weeks around Christmas, there are thousands of counts in the U.S., Canada and a handful of other countries. Tens of thousands of people count tens of millions of birds every year.
“Birders love to go out bird watching and have a reason for it,” said Nikki Belmonte, the executive director of Atlanta Audubon Society. “But this is important to conservation in general.”
That incredible amount of information that people have collected every Christmas tells researchers not only how bird populations are doing, but also what’s going on in their environment and what the future could hold, as climate change rearranges their lives.
Take the brown-headed nuthatch. It’s a regular visitor to bird feeders in some Atlanta backyards. But climate change could shrink its range, especially in the summer, according to a 2014 study by the National Audubon Society that relies on Christmas Bird Count data.
That’s the high-level research. On the local level, volunteers do the counting.
And these are not hushed, tip-toeing-down-a-forest-path kind of outings, since the goal is to get out, drive around to different spots and count as many birds as possible.
“It actually can be a little bit loud and rambunctious,” said Belmonte.
There are a couple dozen Christmas Bird Counts in Georgia. Some have already happened, others are coming up. The intown Atlanta count is Jan. 2.
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