12.11.2012

Know THIS Christmas tradition?


There was a time when Americans celebrated Christmas with what was called a “side hunt.” Groups of men got together, chose sides and then marched into the woods to take aim at absolutely any animal that moved.  Whichever team returned with the greatest number of pelts and feathers earned bragging rights. 

It’s not hard to imagine the results of such attitudes and endeavors.  At the turn of the 20th century, American wildlife was in a wide scale decline.  Even whitetail deer, so numerous today, were down to an estimated 300,000, a sliver of their former numbers.  Conservationists and, yes, hunters decried the loss of wildlife and a number of regulations, fees and laws were put into effect that have had profound benefits for wildlife, ecosystems and Americans.

In 1900, Frank Chapman, an officer of the then-new Audubon Society, turned the Christmas tradition on its ear and proposed that outdoors men gather to count, rather than shoot, birds on Christmas day. It must have been mocked by many at the time but his idea took hold has grown into the world’s largest “citizen science” survey. Well over 60,000 people are expected to participate in the Audubon Society’s 2012-2013 Christmas Bird Count, or “CBC” as it’s known to insiders.

Novices and experts alike will gather at chosen locations and dates (any time from December 14 to January 5 in case you want to spend Christmas day indoors) and count every bird they see and hear for a 24-hour period. If you live within one of the designated survey areas, you can just tally the birds that visit your feeder from the warmth of your home but, really, getting outside with your friends and family is part of the experience.    

Frank Chapman (click image for more)
Don’t underestimate its importance either; the project is of immeasurable value as a scientific study.  The data collected over the past 111 years are “at the heart of hundreds peer-reviewed scientific studies,” according to Audubon’s chief scientist Gary Langham.  “Because birds are early indicators of environmental threats to habitats we share, this is a vital survey of North America and, increasingly, the Western Hemisphere.”

The information has, among other things, documented northward range expansion of 177 bird species in response to climate change and has helped identify changes in species’ populations, such as the bobwhite quail’s recent decline and the recoveries of bald eagles and peregrine falcons.    

 So this holiday season, why not give a little gift to the earth and spend a day counting our feathered friends? Novices are most welcome and will benefit from working with the experienced birders that will lead each census.  Visit www.Audubon.org to find a chapter near you and see when and where the nearest count is.

Here’s to the foresight and audacity of Frank Chapman! Because of him, thousands head into the woods with binoculars instead of firearms in their Christmas “hunt” for birds. Ho! Ho! Ho!