Join the 126th Christmas Bird Count!

Cedar waxwing feasts on berries in winter. Photo by Monica Hall

Cedar waxwing feasts on berries in winter. Photo by Monica Hall

Southern Wisconsin is home to thousands of bird-lovers, just like you. The annual Christmas Bird Count is one of the best ways to meet other enthusiastic bird-watchers and help collect important data about birds in south-central Wisconsin at the same time!

The Christmas Bird Count, held annually throughout North America between mid-December and early-January, works to take a snapshot of which bird species are found where during the winter season. Bird watchers count the number and individuals of species over a 24 hour period, and turn all of those data into 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 to be the longest-running formal citizen science project in the nation, now in it’s 126th year!

Wisconsin has many Christmas Bird Counts happening, so you can join one or many near you and your favorite birding grounds — see the full list here.

Counts in the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance chapter area include:

  • Dates TBD:

  • Dec. 16: Waterloo, open to more volunteers in the Faville Grove Sanctuary section. Registration will open to volunteers on Nov. 1. Coordinated by Karen Etter Hale.

  • Dec. 18: Fair Meadows Sanctuary (not an official circle but data will be submitted to eBird regardless), registration will open to volunteers on Nov. 1. Coordinated by Penny Shackelford.

  • Dec. 20: Madison-area, open to more volunteers. Registration will open to volunteers on Nov. 1. Coordinated by Brenna Marsicek.

  • Dec. 27: Poynette (including Goose Pond Sanctuary and Erstad Prairie). Registration will open to volunteers on Nov. 1. Coordinated by Mark Martin and Sue Foote-Martin.

  • Jan 1: Cooksville, full on volunteers, coordinated by Quentin Yoerger.

 

Brenna Marsicek - Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance director of outreach & Madison-area CBC coordinator
   Email: bmarsicek@swibirds.org
   Phone: 608-255-2473

 

Read more about southern Wisconsin’s Christmas Bird Counts

Featured
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2024 Christmas Bird Count Results: South-central Wisconsin

In 2024, 12 Christmas Bird Counts were done within the our chapter area (which encompasses 10 counties), and 611 birders spent 1,416 hours tallying up 124,732 birds!

Photo by Arlene Koziol

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2024 Madison-area Christmas Bird Count

As I write this, the snow is falling in the most delightful way. The chickadees are flitting about as if to encourage and confirm that winter birding is fun and productive! Little do they know, a community of hundreds of volunteers combed the city on Saturday, counting them and their feathered comrades for the Madison-area Christmas Bird Count.

Photo by Gail Smith

The inaugural Fair Meadows CBC
The inaugural Fair Meadows CBC

This year we prepared for the first-ever Christmas Bird Count (CBC) at Fair Meadows Sanctuary, after we recently learned that we were not part of any of the official National Audubon CBC circles.

Photo by Gary Shackelford

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2023 Madison-area CBC results

Each December, birders come together for the longest-running citizen science project in the US: the Christmas Bird Count. In the Madison-area, the count is coordinated by our organization, and put on with help from around 200 volunteers each year.

Photo by Kelly Colgan Azar

Poynette CBC's Black-legged Kittiwake
Poynette CBC's Black-legged Kittiwake

The 51st Poynette Christmas Bird Count, coordinated by Susan Foote-Martin and Mark Martin, was held on New Year’s Eve 2022. Ten feeder counters, plus three dozen field counters—who walked 19 miles and drove 488 miles—found 68 species and 10,183 birds.

Photo by Mick Thompson

2022 Madison-area CBC results
2022 Madison-area CBC results

Each December, birders come together for the longest-running citizen science project in the US: the Christmas Bird Count. The national effort is coordinated by National Audubon Society, but there are thousands of counts done locally, coordinated by local birders. In the Madison-area, the count is coordinated by Madison Audubon, and put on with help from over 100 volunteers each year.

Photo by Arlene Koziol

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Our First Wisconsin CBCs After Decades in Southeast Texas

Christmas Bird Count (CBC) morning dawned at 6°F; the afternoon high was 30°F. While that sounds like a typical morning of a Wisconsin CBC, it was actually the morning of the Buffalo Bayou, Texas CBC in west Houston on December 23, 1989.

Photo by Bob Honig

Poynette Christmas Bird Count and Goose Pond Unit - 2020
Poynette Christmas Bird Count and Goose Pond Unit - 2020

This year the Poynette Count was held on December 26th. A major challenge this year was the pandemic. Some field counters passed on participating while those that participated went in family groups while non-related birders traveled in separate cars.  

Photo by Dory Owen
Two Decades of Christmas Bird Counts at Goose Pond Sanctuary

For the past two decades I have had the pleasure of surveying Goose Pond Sanctuary and surrounding area as part of the Poynette Christmas Bird Count (CBC). Our group size and participants vary each year (we enjoy and are grateful for everyone’s involvement!) but Jim Hess and Bill Walters have been part of the team for the past 14 years. That’s pretty good!

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19 and counting: Goose Pond Christmas Bird Count

Six people participated in the Goose Pond unit of the Poynette Christmas Bird Count (CBC) held on December 30, spending most of the day counting birds at Goose Pond Sanctuary. This year Mark Martin, Maddie Dumas, Jim Hess, Bill Walters, Emily Jorgenson, and JD Arnston participated, making up the biggest group in the history of the Goose Pond CBC! Jim and Bill have participated on the count for many years. 

Photo by Monica Hall

Banner photo by Carolyn Byers

 
 
 
 
 
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