Madison is home to thousands of bird-lovers, just like you. The annual Christmas Bird Count is a great citizen science project that involves meeting other enthusiastic birders and helping collect important data about birds in the at the same time!
Because Madison is so large and spread out, the count circle is broken down into 23 areas, and each area has a captain to coordinate volunteers and survey areas. Some survey areas are full on volunteers. We try to match new volunteers with their nearby area, but sometimes those areas are full on volunteers and the closest area that needs volunteers might be a bit of a drive.
Volunteers can either head out to a location assigned by their captain, or tally up birds that come to their feeder. Either way, please let us know you’re interested by scrolling down and completing the form below.
Birding in the field, photo by Carolyn Byers
Birding at your feeders, photo by Monica Hall
Birding in the Field v. Birding at your Feeders
We welcome volunteers to help us count birds “in the field” or at parks and various locations in Madison, as well as folks who count birds at their feeders.
If you count in the field, you will be connected with the area captain who will share the plan for the day and either assign you to sites or welcome you to join a larger group. Limited spots remain for field participants. JOIN THE WAITING LIST FOR THIS ACTIVITY.
If you count at your feeders, you will dedicate an amount of time to sit down to watch your feeders (you choose how long!), and tally up the species of birds you see, and the MAXIMUM number of birds of each species you see at your feeder at once. For example, you wouldn’t tally all 30 chickadees you see, but you would note that the most chickadees you saw at one time was 8. This is because birds often return multiple times to a feeder, and this approach prevents counting a bird more than once.
Join us at the indoor sit & birdwatching event! This event will be held inside at Olbrich Botanical Gardens from 10am-12pm. The room has a wonderful view of the gardens and landscaping that birds enjoy. Together, we will observe and document the birds and species we see as a group. The data will be shared with the CBC compliers and incorporated into the day’s totals.
Cover image by Monica Hall. A flock of Canada Geese fly over water.
