Southern Wisconsin is home to a wonderful diversity of habitats and birds, including in winter! The annual Christmas Bird Count is a great citizen science project that involves meeting other enthusiastic birders and helping collect important data about birds at the same time!

The Waterloo Christmas Bird Count will be held Sunday, Dec. 15 (start and end times are approx. 7:00-2:00), and coordinated by Karen Etter Hale. The count area includes a section that encompasses most of our Favile Grove Sanctuary. We are looking for volunteers to count birds at Faville Grove Sanctuary in Jefferson County to help tally birds at that site to contribute to the broader Waterloo CBC. We will go out in groups to various parts of the sanctuary to document the birds we see and hear in those areas.

Faville Grove is a wonderful place to visit in the winter! There will be quite a bit of hiking, possibly through snow.  

Questions? Contact Brenna Marsicek, bmarsicek@swibirds.org or 608-255-2473

FIELD TRIP/OUTING LEADERS: Brenna Marsicek, Tucker Sanborn, David Musolf, and Roger Packard

APPROX. DISTANCE WALKED: 3+ miles

REGISTRATION REQUIRED? Yes, registration will open in November

More about the Christmas Bird Count

The Christmas Bird Count, held annually throughout North America between mid-December and early-January, is a snapshot of where bird species are found during the winter season. Birders count the number and individuals of species over a 24 hour period, and submit the data to National Audubon. This project is important for estimating distributions and populations, and find oddities in nature (e.g., what is that Clay-colored Sparrow doing in Wisconsin in December?). It is considered the longest-running formal citizen science project in the nation, now in it’s 124th year! Learn more here.

Cover image by Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance