Highlights
Groupings of beginners with experts provide a great opportunity to learn birds such as cedar waxwings, nuthatches, native sparrows, and raptors, as well as some surprising rarities

Stats
Chicago-area counts have been held for 104 years. Today, they involve more than 500 birders each year and cover a total area of more than 2,000 square miles

Behind the scenes
Data collected have been used to track the effects of West Nile virus on resident birds, among other trends.

Winter 2005

Lively group day trips in December and January to tally as many birds as possible

Region-wide

Every winter in Chicago Wilderness between mid-December and early January, more than 500 birders — beginners and experts alike — spread across the landscape with the single-minded and joyous mission of tallying as many birds as they can find during the annual Christmas Bird Count. Few birding events offer the chance for people to appreciate the communal nature of birding so well or for beginners to get their feet wet (maybe even frozen) in this year-round pursuit.

Northern pintail. Photo by Rob Curtis, The Early Birder.

Birders meet in small groups in the predawn hours, piling into cars and heading to areas within an assigned 15-mile-wide circle, one of 14 within the Chicago area. The car rides can often be open-window affairs involving compulsive tree-scanning. Birders frequently disembark to follow icy trails into forest preserves, out across windswept fields, even to retention ponds and industrial areas, searching with binoculars and sharing the thrill of discovering a hidden bird.

The Christmas Bird Count began in December 1900 when Americans heeded ornithologist Frank Chapman's call to count rather than shoot birds as a holiday tradition. Today, more than 50,000 North American birders participate in some 2,000 counts nationwide. "Participating in this event," says avid bird monitor Kelly McKay, "is certainly one of the best ways for citizens to help monitor the health of our avian communities." Added to 104 years of previous counts, these data can help researchers follow population and distribution trends among both migrant and resident birds.

Christmas Bird Count organizers place beginners with supportive veterans. "I try to spread the newer birders around to all the groups," says Denis Kania, organizer for the Fermilab-Batavia circle, "so they have the opportunity to get some field experience while in the company of some pretty competent birders."

Fewer species are here during winter, making it manageable for beginning birders. Still, a hardy adventurer may record 40 or more bird species during a count, including cedar waxwings, woodpeckers, native sparrows, hawks, waterfowl such as bufflehead and merganser, and "winter irruptives" such as pine siskins and crossbills. Bluebirds, kinglets, and winter wrens also make occasional appearances. Truly intense birders rise as early as midnight to count owls attracted by recorded calls.

After sunset, the small groups get together for traditional countdown dinners, where they find plenty of chili and soup, pizza, breads, dessert, and hot drinks. Some meet in restaurants, while others convene at people's homes or a coffee shop. The main entertainment comes in the form of friendly competition as each group's leader takes turns reading off how many of each species his group counted. The tension builds toward the end, when birders shout the names of their rarest prizes amid excited (and a little jealous) murmurings.

If you ask Denis Kania, the best thing to savor about Christmas Bird Counts is the camaraderie. "The Fermi Christmas Bird Count," he says, "is my number-one favorite birding day of the year."

— Sheryl De Vore