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If your New Year’s resolution is to get outside more or learn more about the natural world, the Bird Alliance of Oregon is ready for you.
The organization, founded in 1902 as a chapter of the Audubon Society but now known as the Bird Alliance of Oregon since February of last year, has held an outdoor bird count every year around Christmastime since 1926. The centennial Christmas Bird Count is slated for Jan. 3.
According to the Bird Alliance, the count was started as an alternative to Christmas Day bird hunts. Now, hundreds of similar events are held throughout the Western hemisphere. Portland’s count typically takes place during the last Saturday inside the survey window of Dec. 14 through Jan. 5, says Bird Alliance spokeswoman Ali Berman.
The bird count has become a massive feat of citizen science, with Portland birders creating one of the largest avian data sets in the world, according to Joe Liebezeit, the organization’s statewide conservation director.
Participants in Portland’s Christmas Bird Count have documented important changes in bird distribution over the past century, Liebezeit says. They’ve documented the increased wintertime presence of Anna’s hummingbirds, which could not be found in the Portland area in the colder months until 1968, and provided hard data documenting the recovery of peregrine falcon populations in Portland in recent years.
Last year, more than 300 people participated in the event. Two-third of those worked from home, taking a dutiful census at their backyard bird feeders. The rest bundled up to join birding teams around the city. The organization requires that each team have at least one person who can identify Pacific Northwest birds on sight, but less experienced, eager-to-learn birders are welcome to join these trips and learn on the go.
To learn more, visit: birdallianceoregon.org/get-involved/community-science/christmas-bird-count-2.
