Photos by Erik Jay
Overview of the Christmas Bird Count
The Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC), held annually since 1901, is a long-term study of early winter bird populations across North America. Prior to 1900, there had been a Christmas tradition of hunting birds and animals for sport. Early/forward-thinking conservationists came up with the idea of a census to replace hunting during the Christmas holidays. Today, this annual count takes place across North America, and data is used by scientists around the world.
This year, the Palos Verdes Land Conservancy (PVPLC) partnered with local Audubon leaders to participate in the Christmas Bird Count on December 26, 2022. I spoke with PVPLC biologist Olivia Jenkins, who believes this annual CBC study is uniquely important because it provides long-term data, showing us how bird populations change over time globally and locally. Conducting it during winter migration is helpful because migrating birds are one of the best indicators of climate change as they are adapted to a wide variety of habitats and their life cycle is dependent on environmental cues. She explained that the data collected helps guide restoration efforts within lands managed by PVPLC for years to come. With hundreds of acres within the PVPLC open space, Olivia says “It would take me weeks or months to gather the same information collected in one day. I think this day gives people a chance to see that we are all scientists capable of noticing changes in our environment and playing an important part in protecting it.”
Has the PVPLC participated in the Christmas Bird Count before?
Louise Olfarnes, Marketing and Communications Manager for the PVPLC, said “Informally, we’ve had volunteers participating in past years but given the declining populations of many bird species due to loss of habitat, we feel it’s more important than ever to step up our partnership in helping with the bird count.”
How did PVPLC work with the local Audubon to prepare?
Olivia explained that Audubon provided guidance in identifying the best places to spot birds for the Christmas Bird Count. Local Palos Verdes/South Bay Audubon Society CBC Committee Chair Jonathan Nakai scouted the reserves to decide on the best locations to place volunteer participants. This year, he identified George F. Canyon, Forrestal, and Portuguese Bend reserves to serve as bird-watching sites. Ahead of the count, there were several local species that Olivia hoped would be spotted – the Cactus Wren, the California Gnatcatcher, and the Loggerhead Shrikes. The Cactus Wren and California Gnatcatcher are Special Status Species, indicating they are considered sufficiently rare and require special consideration and/or protection. The Loggerhead Shrikes are a rare sight on the Peninsula. She also hoped that some migrating birds such as the Green-Tailed Towhee or Golden-Crowned Sparrow might be spotted.
In addition to recruiting volunteers to participate, the PVPLC provided special access to areas within the preserve open space that are not always accessible.
What can locals do year-round to support the bird population?
Even if you were not able to participate in the Christmas Bird Count, everyone can play a role in collecting data for scientists. Oliva shared that today there are apps that people can use year-round to identify and report birds they see as well as plants and animals. iNaturalist and eBird are apps she recommends. iNaturalist is a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. eBird is a collaborative enterprise with hundreds of partner organizations, thousands of regional experts, and hundreds of thousands of users; eBird is managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
What were this year’s Christmas Bird Count highlights?
I talked with Olivia about r how the day of the CBC went. She shared that she was partnered with volunteers Joana Folgar and Greg Hachigian and among them, they had a good mix of skills to identify spotted birds. They first spotted a Red-Tailed Hawk at Three Sisters Reserve. Then, Olivia was excited to spot an American Kestrel perched in the distance at the Portuguese Bend Reserve, as well as a couple of Northern Flickers. Many songbirds were tricky to identify as they stayed hidden in the bushes and moved very quickly but they did identify Yellow-rumped Warblers, Golden-Crown Sparrows, While-Crowned Sparrows (migrants from far-north Alaska), and Hermit Thrush. They also saw lots of Allen’s and Anna’s Hummingbirds.
“I think this day gives people a chance to see we are all scientists capable of noticing changes in our environment and playing an important part in protecting it.” -Olivia Jenkins, PVP Land Conservancy Biologist
When will the results of this year’s count be published by Audubon?
The local Audubon Committee Chair Jonathan Nakai for the CBC says “Usually, the summary of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Christmas Bird Count is posted a few weeks after the count date and is posted on the Palos Verdes/South Bay Audubon website, because it takes time to compile all the data. You can find the website here https://pvsb-audubon.org/cbc/ .” He explained that the National Audubon Report can take a few months to compile because it takes data from across North America; it is found at https://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/.
