109th Christmas bird count set to take flight

News Release
Nature Network

Between December 14 and January 5, 2009, thousands of expert and amateur birders will participate in the 109th annual Christmas Bird Count, a well-established tradition for naturalists across the continent.
This year, more than 40 Ontario Nature member groups are leading bird counts in communities as far north as Thunder Bay and Sudbury, to Point Pelee and Holiday Beach in the south, and Kingston and Ottawa to the east.
The Christmas Bird Count started out as the Christmas Bird Census led by American ornithologist Frank Chapman as an alternative to the then-popular “side hunt” in which teams competed to see who could shoot the most birds and small mammals as a Christmas day activity. Chapman’s suggestion that birds be counted instead of shot changed the course of ornithological history with the founding of what is now considered to be the world’s most significant citizen science-based conservation effort.
Today, more than 2,000 individual counts are scheduled to take place throughout the Americas, and more than 100 counts will occur in Ontario alone.
Says Caroline Schultz, Executive Director of Ontario Nature, “The Christmas Bird Count is great fun yet at the same time provides very valuable scientific data. Ontario Nature was founded by a small group of enthusiastic nature clubs with a keen interest in the welfare of birds, so supporting this kind of citizen science is an inherent part of what we do.”
During last year’s Christmas Bird Count, nearly 58,000 volunteers across North America tallied some 70 million birds. This year’s Christmas Bird Count is expected to be even larger.
Counts are open to birders of all skill levels. The data is used by the Canadian Wildlife Service, Bird Studies Canada and the National Audubon Society to monitor the status of all bird species across the western hemisphere.
For a full list of the Ontario Nature member groups that are holding bird counts and when, please visit the Nature Network on our website, www.ontarionature.org.