Choctawhatchee Audubon Society | Christmas Bird Count

CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT

 

2024 December 14 SATURDAY Choctawhatchee Audubon CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT 2024. Jim Anderton and Bruce Purdy coordinate our Audubon CBC circle in this worldwide citizen science event (all experience levels welcome). The 15-mile-diameter circle is centered 4 mi N of the Marler (Destin) Bridge over East Pass, and the circle is divided into many "Areas" for the different parties of observers. Contact Jim (850`543`2221 to text) to participate in one of the parties or your own party. PDF with local bird ID tips


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The Choctawhatchee Audubon Society began its Christmas Bird Count in southern Okaloosa County in 1976. You are invited to participate. Your Count Compiler will assign about 10 sites to you in your preferred Count Area. Participants write numbers of birds of each species seen or heard about every 15 minutes on our official check-list. We will send check-lists to people who text or email the Count Compiler about their interest in participating. Our check-list shows the most likely species of Okaloosa County on the front page, and rarer species on the back. Our participants cannot possibly find all of the birds in our official Count Circle. We simply keep track of the miles and hours spent birding. The ratio of birds to hours (or miles) gives scientists data to compare other Christmas Counts across the U.S., across the World, and from year to year, from decade to decade.

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This year's (2024) official two-sided Check-list PDF for printing

A summary of Count Tips PDF

Available in December, the Rare Bird Documentation PDF

The following link shows a map of the Count, with Count Areas and the Count Circle.

VIEW our Christmas Bird Count map at GOOGLE MAPS

Which Count Area interests you? To dig deeper, you can turn on & off map layers in the Legend (Doesn't behaves better on big screens than phones). If the legend works for you, try the layer named Sites (click the box to show the list). Each site is labeled with a Number (indicating the Count Area) and a letter (unique to each site in the Count Area). If you live in the Count Circle, you may want to choose the Count Area in which you live. Some sites are covered very well by very experienced birders, notably the Okaloosa Holding Ponds, the Wright Landfill, Veterans Park on Okaloosa Island, and the Destin jetties.

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Some of us try to dedicate much of the day to birding. But please contact us soon, because we want to avoid two parties counting the same individual birds. Thank you for helping in this effort to educate ourselves about local birds and their populations.

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Good Birding,

Jim Anderton, Compiler; Bruce Purdy Co-compiler

Choctawhatchee Bay Christmas Bird Count

850`543`2221

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