The Kingston Christmas Bird Count (XBC) will be held December 23. Central Valley observers will be among the 57,000-plus volunteers participating in the annual Christmas Bird Count December 14 to January 3, co-ordinated internationally by the National Audubon Society (New York), in Canada by Bird Studies Canada, and in Nova Scotia by the Nova Scotia Bird Society.
This year marks the 107th anniversary of the decision of Frank Chapman and 26 others to initiate the Christmas Bird Count in 1900 to protest the traditional Christmas day "side hunt.? Instead of having competitions to see who could shoot the most kinds of birds and mammals in one day, the attempt was to see, count and identify as many birds as possible in specific areas in one day.
As the value of the information collected was realized, conditions were standardized to permit scientific comparisons between years and areas, and the XBC has grown from a social, sporting and competitive event into the world's most extensive and longest-running wildlife inventory. Although it now reveals interesting and scientifically important information on early-winter bird populations, species distribution and environmental health, the fun aspect is maintained; many people have had their introduction to birding through a Christmas bird count.
Today, volunteers from all 50 states, every Canadian province and territory, parts of Central and South America, the West Indies and some Pacific Islands will count and record every individual bird and bird species encountered during one calendar day in a specified area. Each of the 2,000-plus individual Christmas counts is a circle of 24 km diameter, whose centre remains constant over the years. This area is divided among the observers available, with precautions to avoid duplicating counts. The results for each count are gathered, reviewed and submitted by a compiler and, after further review by regional and national editors, published on the National Audubon Society website,
www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/index.html">www.audubon.org ">www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/index.html>">www.audubon.org . Here you can also use the data to map the winter distribution of any species, or determine population changes by species. A summary and analysis are also published annually in the periodical American Birds, and details of the Nova Scotia ones in Nova Scotia Birds.
The first Nova Scotian XBC was held in 1913 in Yarmouth, closely followed by Wolfville in 1915, but Kingston was not established until 1968, so this is our 39th year. Last year, Kingston had 115 observers - the third highest in the province - who counted 8,555 birds of 59 species, including a rare Snowy Owl and a straggling Gray Catbird (our first-ever). Most abundant were American Crow (almost 2,900), European Starling (1,804), Black-capped Chickadee (793) and American Goldfinch (726). Over the years, 116 species have been recorded on this count.
Our count is centred at the intersection of Bridge and Main streets in Kingston, and so includes all areas from Lower Middleton to East Aylesford, and from Margaretsville to the top of the South Mountain. People living in the area, or elsewhere, can help by participating on count day, either in a field party or as a feeder observer; by alerting the compiler to the presence in the area of unusual or uncommon species for this season, including ones such as hawks or owls that are hard to find at any season; by allowing field parties to enter your property on count day to search for birds (they will have Christmas Bird Count signs in car windows for identification); by alerting the compiler to areas that should be checked that you know of that might be missed from the road, such as an especially good feeding station behind your house; or by a donation to one of the non-profit groups sponsoring the XBC (listed above) among their nature research and conservation initiatives (websites for each are easy to find).
Participation is open to birders of all skill levels. For more information or to get involved, call compiler Wayne Neily at 765-2455 or e-mail Neilyornis@hotmail.com.
