Californians from all walks of life will take to the outdoors this holiday season to participate in the 110th annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count, the longest-running wildlife census in the world. Between this Monday, Dec. 14, and Jan. 5, thousands of Californians will transform into volunteer scientists to assess the size of bird populations in local communities throughout the state. The data from these counts will be compiled with others from around the nation and beyond, and will ultimately help Audubon track the progress of imperiled species and gauge the impact of environmental threats to birds and habitat. To learn more about the Christmas Bird Count in your area, just visit our website.

“The Christmas Bird Count encourages bird enthusiasts to get outside and do what they enjoy most, and at the same time make a tremendous contribution to science,” said Graham Chisholm, executive director of Audubon California. “Many people make this a holiday tradition that goes from generation to generation.”

Christmas Bird Counts will take place in virtually every county throughout California – in places both familiar and remote. This year, well over 100 counts are scheduled in the state, and more than 5,000 are expected to participate.

Audubon California is helping organizing counts in Important Bird Areas that might be otherwise overlooked, such as Santa Cruz Island, the only known home of the Island Scrub Jay.

“Because of how the Christmas Bird Count data is used to guide conservation and inform policy initiatives, it’s important to get into some of these remote areas and make sure that we get the best possible snapshot of birds and habitat,” said Chisholm.

Audubon California in 2009 used several decades of Christmas Bird Count data in research that showed that up to a third of California native bird species will experience significant reductions in their geographic range in the next several decades due to climate change.

The Christmas Bird Counts began more than a century ago when conservationists – as an alternative to holiday hunting contests – banded together to identify, count and record all the birds they saw. One of the first counts was held in California in 1900, in Pacific Grove.

In each Christmas Bird Count, volunteers must count birds within an established 15-mile diameter circle. Sometimes these circles are in the open landscape, while other times they are on private lands or even residential neighborhoods. Each field party includes at least one experienced birdwatcher.