Spend 30 minutes counting birds on December 14th for the Calgary CBC.
We always like to have as many birders as possible go out in the field on Count Day, and this is how we get the majority of our birds and species. But field teams operate mostly in parks in the city (though we do have some diligent counters who drive residential back alleys!), and there are large areas of the city that are not covered in this way . That’s where the Feeder Watchers come in.
As a Feeder Watcher, you simply count the birds you see in or from your yard on Count Day. We ask that you spend at least 30 minutes counting in total, though you can spend much more time if you wish. Every year our Feeder Watchers see a good number of species, including usually one or two that are not found by the field teams. So they are an important part of the Count, and they do help to fill in the gaps in our coverage.
We can really use more people to watch at their feeders this year. If you have participated in the past, you still have to register this year to be included.
Register here!
Below is an animated look at the tracks of the field teams in 2024. As Matt Wallace says in this Instagram post, it only includes 190 out of the 218 eBird tracks of field teams, which accounts for some of the large gaps in coverage. But look at all the residential spaces in between the tracks! There are a lot of birds in those areas, and we’d like to count them. (If this doesn’t play on your device, try this link: Instagram.)
In addition, the field teams are all located within the Count Circle, which has a 24-km diameter. We want to cover that circle as fully as possible. But over the years the city has expanded beyond the boundaries of the circle, leaving many willing backyard observers outside the Count. We have started to include observations by Feeder Watchers who are in the city but outside of the circle as part of our Community Christmas Bird Count. Those observations cannot be counted in the official Audubon count, but we feel that it is important to do this to get a more complete picture of the winter birds in our city, and to involve as many people as possible.
Please fill out the registration form if you’d like to take part, either as a Feeder Watcher inside or outside the city, or as part of a field team.
Bonus Read: Below is a link to a recent article about the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary in the Calgary Journal which includes an interview with CBC organizer Matt Wallace.
Thank you. I’m signed up as a backyard watcher