The 125th annual Christmas Bird Count is taking place this weekend in Central Park. On Sunday starting at 8:00 a.m., an army of birders will report to the South Gate House of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir and roam the park to help count, categorize, and track birds across the area. Any interested birder (amateur, experienced or aspiring) can register here.
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Fortunately for the feathered citizens of the city (and the other 24 locations where the original Bird Count took place), the new tradition proved to be a resounding and lasting success. Just 27 total participants identified 89 species and over 18,500 total birds across the United States and Canada.
The Bird Count has only continued to grow from there. Over 67,000 birders across the world participated in the 123rd global bird count (of 2022), and last year in Central Park, over 100 volunteers counted 9,673 birds from 58 different species.
The Central Park count is organized by the NYC Bird Alliance, a “grassroots community that works for the protection of wild birds and habitat in the five boroughs,” as part of a collaboration with National Audubon Society, which handles the count across the whole country.
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We reached out to a spokesman for the Alliance who laid out the day.
“After remarks from us, NYC Parks, and Central Park Conservancy, we ask the volunteers to go to their assigned group (leaders will hold up large signs with the various location names) and then we head off to count all the birds we can see and hear from 8:15 to around 11:15am. Sometimes a park ranger will join a group too, but it depends on the group. NYC Bird Alliance will have an “engagement helper” with each group to help anyone who is new to birding or the CBC to make sure everyone is having a good time and feeling involved with the community science. “
The impact of that community science goes far beyond counting birds.
“The data is used for a variety of purposes by researchers, and is often combined with other data,” he said. “When this data is combined with other surveys like the Breeding Bird Survey or the Great Backyard Bird Count, the CBC provides a picture of how the continent’s bird populations have changed in time and space over the past hundred years due to environmental changes.”
Unfortunately, those findings aren’t always positive. One 2022 study using more than 90 years of Christmas Bird Count data found that all birds have shifted their winter ranges in response to climate change. Another 2019 study in the journal Science found a loss of nearly 3 billion birds in North America since 1970. That’s more than 1 in 4 birds over the last 50 years.
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This year’s Central Park Christmas Bird Count has a record high registration count of over 200 birders, and there’s still time to sign up, no matter what your experience level. According to the Alliance, “About a quarter of participants at our count each year are totally new to birding, and winter is actually a great time to start learning due to birds being easier to find with less vegetation. So it’s a great event to get started birding and learning about your local environment while contributing to conservation efforts across the country.”
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