The CBC is an annual event sponsored by National Audubon, to monitor the distribution and population trends of bird species in North America during the early winter. The count period extends from mid-December to early January. DC Audubon members regularly participate in two local counts [0], District of Columbia (Saturday, December 16) and Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge (Sunday, December 17). If you are interested in participating in either or both counts, please contact Peter Vankevich (202-547-4523, pvank@cais.net [1]). Other counts in the area are being organized by the Audubon Naturalist Society (301-652-9188 x10).

The first CBC was run in 1900, organized by Frank Chapman, an ornithologist and officer in the young Audubon Society. Chapman proposed the CBC as an alternative to the popular tradition of the Christmas "Side Hunt," a competitive hunt with teams vying to shoot the greatest number of birds. Chapman suggested that people count birds instead of shooting them. His opposition to the Side Hunt was shared by a growing number of citizens, concerned about the effect of rampant, irresponsible hunting on bird populations, as well as on other wildlife.

Since 1900, the CBC has continued annually. Participation in the event has grown tremendously, particularly during the last two decades. The CBC is an excellent example of citizen science. The data provide detailed information about the distributions and population sizes of bird species in early winter, covering the past 100 years. These data are a valuable and unparalleled resource for addressing questions in basic science and in conservation. These data would be impossible to amass without the efforts of the volunteers who participate in the CBCs.

In spring of 1998, researchers at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and John Shipman, the New Mexico CBC Regional Editor, completed the daunting task of entering all the CBC data, from 1900 to the present, into an electronic database. All the CBC data are now available on the web, at BirdSource (http://www.birdsource.org/cbc [2]), a site run jointly by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Count summaries (species and numbers) can be viewed for any count circle for any year. Since the 99th count (1998-1999), all CBC results have been entered directly into the BirdSource website.