Christmas Bird Count
Georgi Baird
Cedar Waxwing
The 113th Christmas Bird Count took place from December 14, 2012 through January 5, 2013. See print and audio news coverage of the 113th Christmas Bird Count via Audubon in the News.
Big News!
The CBC is now FREE!
Important and Exciting news for the Christmas Bird Count program
After nearly two years of internal discussions, budget modeling, head-scratching, and intense decision-making, two major changes will come to the Christmas Bird Count program effective with the 113th Count in December, 2012.
First, the CBC is now a free program. Audubon will no longer charge the $5.00 fee of field participants.
Second, to minimize the effects of the loss of fee income, American Birds will no longer be printed on paper and mailed to participants, and Audubon will move to an online delivery of the summary results of the CBC.
Read the full announcement about these important changes here
From December 14 through January 5 tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the Americas take part in an adventure that has become a family tradition among generations. Families and students, birders and scientists, armed with binoculars, bird guides and checklists go out on an annual mission - often before dawn. For over one hundred years, the desire to both make a difference and to experience the beauty of nature has driven dedicated people to leave the comfort of a warm house during the Holiday season.
Each of the citizen scientists who annually braves snow, wind, or rain, to take part in the Christmas Bird Count makes an enormous contribution to conservation. Audubon and other organizations use data collected in this longest-running wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations - and to help guide conservation action.
From feeder-watchers and field observers to count compilers and regional editors, everyone who takes part in the Christmas Bird Count does it for love of birds and the excitement of friendly competition -- and with the knowledge that their efforts are making a difference for science and bird conservation.
- Learn how data from the CBC helps birds.
- View results from this year or from previous years in the Data & Research section
- Explore the CBC Photo Gallery of birds seen during counts.
- Christmas Bird Count printable program overview (in PDF).
- Information general del Conteo Navideño de Aves (PDF) /General information about the CBC in Spanish
- Manual para compiladores sobre como realizar el Conteo Navideño de Aves (PDF) / Spanish Language compiler resources manual
- Audubon President's letter to CBC volunteers.
