Blackbrook Audubon Society seeks help with early-winter bird census

Staff Report, The News-Herald, Willoughby, Ohio
·2 min read

Dec. 28—Blackbrook Audubon Society invites everyone to its final outing of 2023, an early-winter bird census, on Dec. 30.

Blackbrook will join thousands of other volunteer teams across the U.S., Canada, and many countries in the Western Hemisphere for the 124th annual Christmas Bird Count, according to a news release.

The object is to count all the bird species and number of birds in a 15-mile diameter circle in one 24-hour period between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5. Anyone living within the circle can also report birds at their feeder.

To be assigned to a team covering a specific area on foot or in a vehicle, or to report backyard feeder counts, contact Dan Donaldson, the compiler for Blackbrook's circle, at danook057@yahoo.com.

Participants will meet for an optional lunch at 11:30 a.m. at Hellriegel's Inn, 1840 Mentor Ave. in Painesville. After the morning sightings are added to a preliminary list, counters may choose to head back out after lunch in search of more birds.

Blackbrook's Christmas Bird Count circle extends from Lost Nation Airport to western Perry, Lake Erie south to Holden Arboretum and Big Creek Park in Geauga County, the release stated.

Blackbrook Audubon's territory covers Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake counties.

The Ashtabula CBC, centered just east of Kingsville, will also be Dec. 30. Marc Hanneman compiles this count which covers both Ashtabula and Conneaut Harbors, as well as several Ashtabula County Metroparks. Contact Hanneman at marchanneman@embarqmail.com to help with that count.

He said they would welcome more lake watchers.

The Burton CBC held in Geauga County will be Jan. 1. Linda Gilbert, the primary compiler and a naturalist with Geauga Park District, can be reached at lgilbert@geaugaparkdistrict.org. Dan Best will assist with the compiling of lists for the Burton count.

Circles for the count stretch from Arctic Bay, Baffin Island in Canada to a NOAA research vessel in the Drake Passage at the southern tip of South America; as far west as Guam in the Pacific to the eastern tip of Brazil.

The Christmas Bird Count is the longest-running community science bird project in North America and helps biologists monitor bird population trends, according to the release.