Beaver Staff
From partridges in pear trees to turtle doves, now is the season for keeping track of birds.
To that end, The Kingston Field Naturalists are inventing people to take part in their annual bird counting events this holiday season, featuring a Dec. 21 count in Napanee and a Dec. 28 count in Moscow. No birding experience is necessary.
The Christmas Bird Count began in 1900 and is North America’s longest-running citizen science project. Counts are happening in over 2,000 places in the Western Hemisphere. The Napanee and Moscow Counts began about 40 years ago.
The information collected by thousands of volunteers forms one of the world’s largest sets of wildlife survey data. The results are used daily by conservation biologists and naturalists to assess the population trends and distribution of birds.
To take part in the Napanee count, contact Kurt Hennige at 613-876-1804 or khennige@xplornet.com. For the Moscow one, contact Bonnie Bailey at countrygal354@gmail.com.
Each Christmas Bird Count is conducted on a single day between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5. Counts are carried out within a 24-km diameter circle that remains the same every year.
For more information on Christmas Bird Counts, visit Bird Studies Canada: www.birdscanada.org and go to citizen science programs.
Volunteers in Napanee and Moscow areas are also needed to count the birds at your own feeder – on Dec. 21 in Napanee and on Dec. 28 in Moscow. For information, contact Hennige, listed above.