Event Details
Blackbrook Audubon Society invites nature enthusiasts to contribute to their Christmas Bird Count Saturday, December 27. Blackbrook volunteers will fan out across central Lake County while teams in three other counties will search in their assigned circles.
The object of this early-winter census is to count all the bird species and number of birds in a 15-mile diameter circle in one 24-hour period between December 14 and January 5. Anyone living within the circle can also report birds at their feeder. To be assigned to a team covering a specific area on foot or in a vehicle, or to report backyard feeder counts, contact Dan Donaldson, the compiler for Blackbrook's circle, at danook057@yahoo.com.
Blackbrook's CBC circle extends from Lost Nation Airport to Western Perry, Lake Erie south to Holden Arboretum and Big Creek Park in Geauga County.
Teams usually meet for an optional lunch. Dan Donaldson will give participants the location. After the morning sightings are added to a preliminary list, counters may choose to head back out after lunch in search of more birds.
Blackbrook Audubon's territory covers Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake counties. The Ashtabula CBC, centered just east of Kingsville, will also be December 27. Marc Hanneman compiles this count which covers both Ashtabula and Conneaut Harbors, as well as several Ashtabula County Metroparks. Contact Marc at 440-645-6245 or marchanneman@embarqmail.com to help with that count. He plans to assign territories by December 15.
The Burton CBC held in Geauga County will be Thursday, January 1, 2026. Linda Gilbert, the primary compiler and a naturalist with Geauga Park District, can be reached at lkg38@roadrunner.com. Dan Best will assist with the compiling of lists for the Burton count.
The Cleveland circle, centered just north of Richmond Hts., will be surveyed Saturday, December 20. Laura Gooch is the compiler for the Cleveland circle, which extends into western Lake County. For an assignment in the Willoughby/Wickliffe area, contact Mary Huey at maryhueyquilts47@gmail.com.
Circles for the count stretch from Arctic Bay, Baffin Island in Canada to a NOAA research vessel in the Drake Passage at the southern tip of South America; as far west as Guam in the Pacific to the eastern tip of Brazil. Census takers in the NEO circles share the same mission and may count on the same day as birders in some of these far-off places. View a map of active CBC circles at https://gis.audubon.org/christ.... For more information on the local Audubon chapter and count, visit blackbrookaudubon.org.
The Christmas Bird Count is the longest-running community science bird project in North America and helps biologists monitor bird population trends. The official count began on Christmas Day 1900 when ornithologist Frank Chapman proposed a new holiday tradition - a "Christmas Bird Census" when people would count birds rather than hunt them. However, a local birder and ornithology professor, Dr. Lynds Jones, conducted a Christmas-time count in 1897 in Oberlin. His effort may have inspired Chapman to organize a wider count.
Photos: Rusty Blackbird, Eastern Bluebird by Nan Patrick, Northern Cardinal, Mallards and Mallard hybrid, Canada Geese by Laurie White