Gallery: Christmas counting is for the birds

The Christmas Bird Count is the longest-running wildlife census in the United States. Birders are divided into teams, and each team not only notes each species seen but a designated recorder also tallies the number of each species, Moab Bird Club officials said in a news release.

“This is not just about counting birds”, says Dick Cannings, Bird Studies Canada program co-ordinator. Through continued participation in the CBC, volunteers, working as citizen scientists, provide professional scientists additional data necessary for monitoring imperiled birds and their habitats.

Prior to the 1900s, there was a Christmas Side Hunt, where people would shoot as many birds (and sometimes animals) as they could on Christmas Day, whoever had the most won. Data from the counts give scientists insight into birds’ migratory movements that researchers would never otherwise have, such as how bird ranges have been shifting over time. The Christmas Bird Count helped document the comeback of the Bald Eagle and significant increases in waterfowl populations, both the result of conservation efforts.

The bird counters can travel by foot or vehicle in order to cover as much ground as possible and access a variety of environments.

The count began on December 14 and runs through January 5.

The most unexpected birds seen Saturday were a Wilson’s warbler and a species of duck called a greater scaup.

There are also two ways to participate in the bird counts: as a field observer, someone who actually walks around and counts birds; or as a feeder watcher, someone who makes observations about the different bird species visiting their home bird feeder, LeBaron told Live Science.

Participants will be covering from the north edge of Oliver to Boundary Point across the border, and from Anarchist Mountain to the west end of Richter Pass. Other adjacent areas are covered by other counts, Vaseux Lake, Bridesville and Cawston. Each year, more than 20,000 volunteers actively participate in BSC research and education activities.