Photo: Camilla Cerea
Tom Blackburn
As the holiday season draws to a close, an annual holiday tradition also is coming to a close – the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC). Since 1900, when 27 birders conducted 25 surveys and tallied 96 species, the CBC has grown in 2019 to 81,601 people who participated in surveys in 2646 count circles and tallied 672 species and nearly 43 million birds. You can learn more about the history of the CBC and the bird population statistics here.
ASNV has sponsored the Manassas-Bull Run CBC for 37 years. Our survey covers a 15 mile diameter circle around Centreville, VA. In 2019 137 birders participated in our chapter’s CBC, more than all but 46 of the 2646 CBCs. We counted 86 species and more than 20,000 birds. Six other CBCs include portions of the ASNV service territory: Washington DC, Seneca, Fort Belvoir, Central Loudoun, Nokesville and Brooke. That gives our members a nearly-unparalleled opportunity to participate in the annual bird counts. Some of ASNV members participate in as many as four CBCs each year.
ASNV has a long tradition of community science. In addition to the CBC, we participate in the Winter Waterfowl Count and the Great Backyard Bird Count each February, the World Migratory Bird Count in May and the Northern Virginia Bird Survey in June. ASNV also conducts weekly butterfly and dragonfly surveys each April through October within the 15-mile diameter count circle around Occoquan National Wildlife Refuge established by the North American Butterfly Association (NABA); and year-round natural resource surveys in the same area.
The CBC and other community scientist-driven surveys are vitally important in gathering knowledge about the status and health of wildlife. The data compiled through these surveys and through the 100 million bird sightings reported each year through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird program have helped professional ornithologists and other biologists to fully understand changes in populations of wildlife and recommend actions to protect vulnerable species. The data compiled by volunteer birders have, among other things, helped to document the loss of nearly three billion birds in North America since 1970.
If you would like to join the army of community scientists who are working to document wildlife populations in Northern Virginia, look for information about upcoming surveys on the “Get Outside” menu on our website. Some of our surveys have been curtailed or restricted to previous participants due the pandemic, but we’ll restart them as soon as the public health situation improves.