Christmas Bird Count
What is the Christmas Bird Count?
More than 50,000 observers participate each year in this all-day census of early-winter bird populations. The results of their efforts are compiled into the longest running database in ornithology, representing over a century of unbroken data on trends of early-winter bird populations across the Americas. Simply put, the Christmas Bird Count, or "CBC", is citizen science in action.
How is the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) conducted?
Count volunteers follow specified routes through a designated 15-mile (24-km) diameter circle, counting every bird they see or hear all day. It’s not just a species tally—all birds are counted all day, giving an indication of the total number of birds in the circle that day. All tallies are submitted to a local compiler and the compiler submits the verified tally to the CBC database.
If observers live within a CBC circle, they may arrange in advance to count the birds at their feeders and submit those data to their compiler.
All individual CBC’s are conducted in the period from December 14 to January 5 (inclusive dates) each season, and each count is conducted in one calendar day. See the LHAS Calendar section for local CBC availability. More general information regarding Christmas Bird Counts is available at https://www.audubon.org/conservation/join-christmas-bird-count and https://www.audubon.org/answers-your-top-questions-about-christmas-bird-count.
124th CBC Summaries
National Audubon Society summaries of the 14 December 20223 to 5 January 2024 — the 124th Christmas Bird Count — are available at these two links:
Highest Individual Tallies in the US, 124th CBC
Summary of the 124th Christmas Bird Count
The total number of counts included in this season’s results was 2677 counts (470 in Canada, 2019 in the United States, and 188 in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Pacific Islands). Included in that near-record total are the 43 new count circles (6 in Canada, 12 in the United States, and 25 in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Pacific Islands)
The 124th CBC achieved a new record for participation: 83,186 (72,129 field observers and 11,057 feeder watchers) surpassed the previous high count by over 1500 people.
Included in that overall total, United States Christmas Bird Counts reported 667 species, 81 infraspecific forms, and 40 exotic species. The Mottled Owl at Falcon Dam S.P., TX, was a new species for a US CBC. 40,871,030 birds were counted, continuing a trend of declining bird numbers despite increased effort and geographic coverage. Participants tallied 2380 species, plus 407 identifiable forms and hybrids.
Notable finds for the 124th count include a Mottled Owl (a new species for a United States CBC found in Texas); American Flamingoes (likely lingering after Hurricane Idalia), and Limpkins continuing their northward expansion across the eastern US.
An Iowa State Summary is available online. Nebraska and South Dakota summaries are not available as of this writing (18 November 2024). Please check here to see if these summaries become available.
Results
Loess Hills Audubon Society members participate in several CBC's each year. Some members serve as the count compilers while others provide the information. Listed below are links to the results of some of those counts.
124th CBC