Christmas Bird Count

Join local birders counting every bird they can - and making an impact for bird conservation! 

The Christmas Bird Count is North America’s longest-running Citizen Science project. People in more than 2000 locations throughout the Western Hemisphere participate in the CBC each year. Birds Canada oversees the CBC program nationally, in partnership with National Audubon Society in the US. The program is driven largely by volunteer effort and supporter donations.

The information collected by thousands of Citizen Scientists forms one of the world’s largest sets of wildlife survey data.  Effort for each circle is organized by a Coordinator, who is a volunteer (or team of volunteers) at the local level, often supported by a birding club or naturalist organization. The results are used by conservation biologists, environmental planners, and naturalists to assess the population trends and distribution of birds.

You don’t have to be an expert birder to participate. Novices will be teamed up with more experienced counters. Anyone can help out by acting as a tally person or as a spotter. Register for a team at http://christmasbirdcount.ca.
Most teams spend all the daylight hours out in the field, but there is room for people who can only spend part of the day too. Come out for as long as you can! There are a few “keeners” who go out looking and listening for owls in the pre-dawn hours. There may be boats on the water again this year, so if that is your specialty, please let the coordinator know.
If you’d rather participate from the comfort of your own home, we are always looking for more feeder watchers. You don’t even have to register! Just go to http://christmasbirdcount.ca and click on the feeder watch link on count day for instructions and reporting.
 
Sidney/South Salt Spring CBC
Sunday December 14
Coordinator: Daniel Donnecke
Contact: sidneycbc@naturevictoria.ca

Victoria CBC
Saturday December 20
Coordinators: Ann Nightingale and Jennifer Armstrong
Contact: victoriacbc@naturevictoria.ca

Sooke CBC
Saturday December 27
Coordinator: Robyn Byrne
Contact: sookecbc@rpbo.org

Duncan CBC
Saturday January 3
Coordinator: Tania Tripp
Contact: cbcbcdu@gmail.com