It's December, snowflakes have filled the air, and it's
the season when any true birder's thoughts turn to the
season, and, of course, to ...
the Christmas Bird Counts!
I hope you can participate this year, and that you'll email
me or call within the next day or two, if you can participate
in the Baltimore Harbor C.B.C. this Saturday (Dec. 18),
so I can set up the territories and coverage.
The requested $5 fee for each observer goes
to the National Audubon Society, which uses the money for
national compilation and publication of the data from
Christmas Bird Counts all over the western hemnisphere,
mostly in the U.S. and Canada.
With each year we continue the Count, the data becomes more and
more important, because our data reflect changes in our environment,
with global warming, and habitat changes associated with
development and changes in land use. Our data help us
evalulate those changes in the quality of our environment and
the breeding environment where the birds have spent the summer.
While the winter counts in January and February more accurately
count the truly overwintering populations and exclude
late migrants which might still be passing through in December,
the Christmas Bird Counts have been going on since year 1900
in the United States, and since 1981 in the Harbor region in particular.
The Winter Counts are a very recent development and lack the
historical depth of the CBC's. Continuity in the CBC's provides
a more consistent database extending through a longer
historical period.
If you can't come to the Baltimore Harbor C.B.C.,|
I hope you can join one of the other Counts and add to our
historically significant data collection. See the
Maryland Ornithological Society home page at
http://www.MDBirds.org/, for reference to the Counts
in our state with their dates.
Thanks for your help in keeping the Counts going!
- Pete Webb,
Compiler,
Baltimore Harbor Christmas Bird Count
cell 443 904-6314 (24/7)
410 486-1217 (home)
7014 Lancaster Road
Baltimore, MD 21207-4624
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