2011 S. Marin Christmas Bird Count
2011 Christmas Bird Count Data
2011 Cheep Thrills Birds by Area [106 KB PDF]
Saturday, December 31
The annual Christmas Bird Count is one of the Marin Audubon’s favorite traditions. We’ve been conducting our count since the 1970’s, as part of an international effort coordinated by the National Audubon Society. Our data is incorporated into the longest running unbroken bird survey in the world, and is important as a means to monitor the status of resident and migratory bird populations.
Southern Marin CBC: Saturday, December 31, 2011
This is the count Marin Audubon has been successfully conducting for over 35 years and it’s one of the top counts in the country in the number of species seen and number of participants. In 2010 we had 153 participants, which ranked 16th out of 2215 Counts. We observed 178 species, ranking us 22nd among counts north of the United States-Mexican border. Observers in the 2010 Southern Marin CBC saw the most Hermit Thrush (304) and Varied Thrush (427) of any Count in the United States.
It covers these areas: Bolinas Lagoon, Audubon Canyon, Stinson Beach, Muir Beach, Fort Cronkite, Muir Woods, Tennessee Valley, Sausalito, Tiburon, Ring Mountain, Mill Valley, Corte Madera, Larkspur, Alpine Lake, Bon Tempe, Phoenix Lake, Rock Springs, Fairfax, and some sections of San Rafael, including Terra Linda.
S. Marin CBC Compilation Dinner – Reservations and Advance Payment Required by December 20
The dinner will be held on 12/31 from 5:30 to 8:30 pm at the Tamalpais Valley Community Center at 203 Marin Avenue, Mill Valley. This will be an all-vegetarian dinner, with lasagna, salad, and bread. We encourage you to attend the event even if you aren’t purchasing a dinner. Pleasebring your own plate, cup, cutlery, and napkin and a dessert to share.
How to Reserve a Dinner: You will not be able to purchase a dinner at the door this year. Instead, you must pay by check and mail it in advance. Make your check for $14 per person payable to “Marin Audubon Society” and mail it by December 20th to Mary Anne Cowperthwaite, 141 Oak Avenue, San Anselmo, CA 94960. Please include the following information: Name(s) of the individuals you are paying for, a contact email and mailing address, and phone number.
Please bring your own plate, cup, cutlery, and napkin and a dessert to share.
Sign Up Now!
Our counts will take place on December 15 and 31, regardless of the weather. Whether you’re interested in participating as an area leader, counter, spotter, feeder watcher or driver, please sign up in advance. You can sign up for either of the counts (or both) by email or by filling out our web form.
Field observers who are 19 years and older are required to pay $5 per CBC to cover the costs of administering the CBC and publishing the annual CBC summary issue of American Birds. You must pay the fee to your area leader on the count day. Feeder watchers are not required to pay a fee.
We also need volunteers to help with the compilation dinners. Please contact Susan Kelly if you are available.
Email: cbc@marinaudubon.org
Web: Signup form http://marinaudubon.org/cbc_form.php
No Internet access? Sign up by calling Susan Kelly at (415) 497-4240 or Mark Forney (415) 847-2837.
History Of CBC'S
For those of you not familiar with the Christmas Bird Count, "more than 50,000 observers participate each year in this all-day census of early-winter bird populations. The results of their efforts are compiled into the longest running database in ornithology. Simply put, the Christmas Bird Count, or "CBC", is citizen science in action. Up until the turn of the century, people commonly engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas "Side Hunt". They would choose sides and go afield with their guns. Whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered quarry won. Conservation was in its beginning stages at the turn of the century, and many observers were becoming concerned about the indiscriminate slaughter of wildlife and the resulting declines in bird populations. On Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank Chapman, an early officer in the then budding Audubon Society, called for an end to the slaughter. He suggested that, rather than shooting birds, people count them instead. So began the Christmas Bird Count.
To learn more about Christmas Bird Counts and to see specific data from all count circles, go to http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count on the CBC web page choose Current Year or Historical Results, we are count circle CAMC).