Photo: Carolina Chickadee, Jeff Drake/Great Backyard Bird Count
Lisa Mackem
Audubon Society of Northern Virginia’s Manassas-Bull Run Christmas Bird Count will be held on Sunday, December 19, 2021 with a preliminary online workshop on December 16. Both the workshop and count are free but because of Covid the number of new participants in the count will be restricted (see following note). This count will be ASNV’s 40th year participating in a 122-year-old annual tradition of citizen science.
In 1900, American ornithologist and pioneering field guide writer Frank Chapman, along with 26 other conservationists, started the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) on Christmas Day, 1900. They wanted to promote conservation by counting birds instead of hunting them. Some counts have run annually since then, and over 20 countries in the Western Hemisphere now have CBCs.
Because of Covid restrictions last year, ASNV limited participants to family groups, and did not solicit additional volunteers. Those 93 participants tallied over 22,500 birds from 87 species – just two short of the 2014 record of 89 species. Notable highlights included sightings of American Pipit flocks for a new high count of 620. Matt Bender found and photographed a late Blue-headed Vireo, which was only the second one seen on the count since the first in 2002. Tim Resch photographed a Cackling Goose with Canada Geese. This also was only the second sighting, after the first one in 2013. Carolina Wrens and White-throated Sparrows were counted at all-time highs. Merlins tied their all-time high, Common Ravens were close to their high count, and Eastern Bluebirds had their highest count since 2015. Canada Geese, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Northern Cardinals, and Song Sparrows were all close to all-time high counts but for several species, observers spotted just one bird.
CBC participant data have become one of only two large pools of information (the other is the Breeding Bird Survey in June) informing ornithologists and conservation biologists on how American birds are faring. Hundreds of analyses, peer-reviewed publications, and government reports use this data, which reveals information about changed migration habits attributed to climate warming. Management plans can be tailored to local conditions using CBC data as a guideline.
Continue this important tradition! Sign up for the workshop here and contact our compiler if you want to come out for the count.
Due to Covid, only a limited number of new volunteers will be added to the 40th annual Manassas-Bull Run CBC. If you are interested, contact the compiler, Phil Silas, no later than December 8. The count will cover the area around Centreville, including Manassas National Battlefield Park, Bull Run Regional Park, undeveloped areas along Bull Run Post Office Road, and many other locations. For more information, especially if there are accessibility concerns please contact Phil or call 703-987-0817.