Christmas Bird Count

Birders and Nature Enthusiasts in Baytown to Take Part in 108th Annual Christmas Bird Count

Birders and nature enthusiasts in Baytown will join birders across the western hemisphere and participate in Audubon's longest-running wintertime tradition, The annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC), held on Saturday, December 15 in Baytown. This year, over 2,000 individual counts are scheduled to take place throughout the Americas and beyond from December 14, 2007 to January 5, 2008.

During last year's count, about 70 million birds were tallied by nearly 58,000 volunteers, that number of observers representing a record level of participation. Thanks in part to Bird Studies Canada, the Canadian partner for the CBC, there were 2,052 individual counts across the Americas, Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands.

The CBC began over a century ago when 27 conservationists in 25 locations, led by scientist and writer Frank Chapman, changed the course of ornithological history. On Christmas Day in 1900, the small group posed an alternative to the "side hunt," a Christmas day activity in which teams competed to see who could shoot the most birds and small mammals. Instead, Chapman proposed that they identify, count, and record all the birds they saw, founding what is now considered to be the world's most significant citizen-based conservation effort - and a more than century-old institution.

The 108th CBC is expected to be larger than ever, expanding its geographical coverage and accumulating information about the winter distributions of various birds. The CBC is vital in monitoring the status of resident and migratory birds across the Western Hemisphere, and the data, which are 100% volunteer generated, have become a crucial part of the U.S. Government's natural history monitoring database.

For more information about CBC participation visit Audubon's website at www.audubon.org/bord.cbc and click on the "Get Involved" link on the left-hand side of the page.

If you would like to volunteer to help count birds in the Baytown Nature Center section of the Baytown CBC please e-mail or call Sallie Sherman at the Wetlands Center at sallie.sherman@baytown.org or 2810420-7140. We will meet at the West Little League parking lot at the end of West Shreck off of Bayway at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, December 15 to start with owls. If you don't want to come that early, please meet us at the entrance to the Baytown Nature Center at 6213 Bayway Drive at 6:30 a.m. to start counting birds at daylight. Bring breakfast, a lunch and water because you can bird as long as you like. We will be at it until 5:00 p.m. when we will stop to have the count down dinner at Lee Palace on Garth Road across from the mall to see how many birds were counted in the entire 15 mile radius circle where Bob Smith Road is at the center.

You do not have to be an expert to participate! You will be grouped with experts who will share binoculars and field guides. This is a great way to get outdoors and learn more about the birds in our area.

Sallie Sherman
Education Coordinator
Eddie V. Gray Wetlands Center
Baytown, Texas 77520
ph. 281-420-7140 fax 281-420-7142
sallie.sherman@baytown.org