Christmas Bird Count: San Diego
Our annual community science event! New birders will be matched up with more seasoned birders to cover as much of the count circle as possible.
Around Thanksgiving, the CBC committee will assign birders to areas, matching less-experienced birders with more-experienced birders. Each group determines its own timeframe on December 16.
At mid-day, we have a lunch gathering at Marina View park, where we compare notes and make plans for more thorough coverage of the area.
The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a program of the National Audubon Society and is over 100 years old. This community science project is a bird census wherein thousands of volunteers from across the US, Canada, and many other countries in the Western Hemisphere coordinate to systematically count the number of bird species—as well as the individual numbers of each species— seen within a specifically defined geographical area. Each count area is called a "Circle" and is headed by a count compiler or coordinator. Each circle is further divided into many smaller survey locations. The CBC provides an invaluable profile of bird population numbers, avian movements, and associated trends, such as climate pressures and the impact of land use policies on birds and other wildlife. We encourage volunteers to contribute to this critically important field work by joining a circle.
