The holiday season is all about traditions. Getting together with friends and family, exchanging gifts and good wishes, reflecting on one year’s end and looking forward to the next—all are part of yuletide traditions, celebrated annually around the world.

Depending on which circles one moves in, Christmastime is also about birds —live birds, in nature. Not just basted turkeys. Nor that mixed flock of “four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree”. The Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count, a community science effort aimed at monitoring bird population trends on a massive scale, is a long-standing tradition dating back to 1901. Born from an entirely different aim—that of shotguns trained on as many birds as one had shells for—the now-bloodless count turns an age-old maxim on its head: birds in the bush are worth infinitely more alive than dead by one’s hand, any ratios notwithstanding.

Now in its 125th year, the count draws more than 70,000 volunteer birders from across the Americas. They spend a day (or several) counting wild birds within a prescribed circle 15 miles across, sunrise to sunset (often a few hours are added after dark, to include nocturnal species). They move in flocks, much like their quarry, toting binoculars and spotting scopes and clicky metal tallywhackers for counting large, clustered groups of birds. They bicker and henpeck among themselves, among rival birders, because it is their contentious nature to question the observations of others, to remain unsatisfied until the putative bird is glimpsed with their own eyes.

As far as Christmas traditions go, counting birds makes about as much sense as the rest. That is, it does not, strictly speaking, make sense. It is an arbitrary artifact. Partly out of tradition (the shotgunning of yore was a holiday affair) and partly out of convenience (Christmastime affords people time off from work to do other things, such as watch birds), the count occurs from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5. This practice of community science is an inexact one, as amateurs and hobbyists are allowed—nay, encouraged—to participate in the count. Mistakes are unavoidable. But with enough counters involved, and with enough counts done successively in discrete areas, a fuzzy-edged census emerges, one that can be compared with those of years past and inform future conservation efforts.

This year is as good as any to add birding to your holiday traditions. The annual Christmas Bird Count for Kids & Families is taking place on Friday, Dec. 13 with sign-in (and donuts) at the Harney County Library from 9-10 a.m. Participants will be sent out with bird guides and lender binoculars if needed. Return to the Library for story time and crafts at noon, bird book giveaways, warm beverages, and lunch hosted by Harney County Library, Bird Alliance of Oregon, and Friends of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. 

So, get your family together, come up with a fun Team Name and join us for the fifth annual CBC4Kids&Families!