One of the longest-running citizen science projects in the world has kicked off its 125th annual event. The Christmas Bird Count (CBC), administered by the U.S.-based nonprofit National Audubon Society, takes place each year from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5. The annual bird census collects valuable data that scientists use to track the health and distribution of bird populations across the Western Hemisphere. The CBC got started in 1900 with a handful of conservationists who wanted to promote counting, rather than hunting, birds. Today, tens of thousands of people volunteer for the count each year at more than 2,600 different locations, spanning more than 20 countries across the Americas. The westernmost Christmas Bird Count takes place on the island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean, which is located 19,000 kilometers (12,000 miles) west of Recife, Brazil, where the easternmost CBC is held. The northernmost count occurs in the Arctic Bay, while the southernmost count is conducted aboard a U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel in the Drake Passage, off the southern tip of South America. “People count birds in all sorts of ways, like just your typical walking and going out in cars [and they] go out on dog sleds or on horseback. We had someone talk about how folks were going out in horse and buggy to count birds,” Cooper Farr, manager of community science at the National Audubon Society, told Mongabay in a phone call. The CBC’s idea is to count all the birds you can…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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