Christmas Bird Count: How To Participate Near Albany

ALBANY, CA — With so many holiday traditions canceled or altered due to the coronavirus pandemic, one that's still taking place might also offer a perfect way to socially distance.

The annual Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count returns for its 121st year, and there are dozens of opportunities to participate in the Bay Area or a short drive away. The count, a census of birds in the Western Hemisphere, will be conducted from Monday through Jan. 5, 2021.

Have you visited Pinnacles National Park? That's one of the locations that need volunteers, "This is a great count the center of which is in Pinnacles National Park and includes the town of Soledad, California. You may see California Condors, Prairie Falcons, Golden Eagles, and Lawrence's Goldfinch along with other dryland California specialists. We do the count both inside and outside the Pinnacles NP boundaries. The count includes driving, walking, and hiking routes (some of the hiking routes are rigorous)."

Local counts are organized by a count compiler, and they are held on only one day. Bird counters will follow a specific route within a 15-mile diameter circle and count any bird they see or hear all day, according to the Audubon Society.

The yearly count helps strategists to protect birds and their habitat, according to a report from PennLive.

“This information paints a clear picture of bird distribution and abundance, and in the case of the publication, aids in the understanding of the urgency of bird conservation,” the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania wrote in its pitch to bring in more participants.

Every year, thousands of observers take part in the count across the United States, Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands, and it becomes more popular every year. A record 81,601 birders took part in the 2019 count, which was the 10th consecutive year a record-breaking count was recorded.

That number could be significantly lower this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however.

“The COVID-19 pandemic will affect CBC participation,” Audubon said on its website. “Pending local restrictions, many counts will be done under the COVID-19 guidelines sent to compilers, while others will likely be canceled.”

A few of the local counts have been canceled, but most are going forward.

Online registration isn’t available this year, so bird counters should email the count organizers to participate. Find contact information for all the active bird counts here.

More circles could be added by the time the count starts, the Audubon Society said. A bird count tracker in the coming days.

Written by Patch editor Tim Moran with additional reporting by Bea Karnes