CHRISTMAS AND BACKYARD BIRD COUNT INFO
Listen to former KAS Education Chair, Pearl Kerber read the children’s picture book Bird Count by Susan Edwards Richmond and illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman,
The 2023 Christmas Bird Count and the 2024 Backyard Bird Count
The annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) started in 1900 as an alternative to the traditional Christmas “side hunt,” when “sportsmen” competed to see who could kill the most birds and small game in a single day. It has grown into the largest and longest-running bird census in the world, with more than 80,000 participants in more than 2,600 count circles across the Western Hemisphere. Kitsap Audubon has been conducting annual CBCs in Kitsap County for 48 years.
Those who volunteer are participating in valuable citizen science, as well as joining with other birders in a great wintertime activity that is both fun and informative. Our traditional Kitsap County CBC will be held on Saturday, December 16th, 2023.
Our North Kitsap-Port Gamble-Hansville CBC will be on Saturday, December 30th, 2023.
Photo of flock of Mergansers during NKPG CBC at Norwegian Point Park provided by Michael Szerlog
You can sign up for either or both CBCs by contacting the team leader (scroll down to see the list) for the group you would like to join or fill out the form below. All skill levels are welcome. Instead of joining a field team, you can choose to spend that day counting birds in your own backyard; but backyard counters must live in the count area. To sign up for the backyard count, contact Janine Schutt: jeschutt@hotmail.com or call her at 360-830-4446.
For other questions about either CBC, contact our designated Compilers (see list):
Kitsap CBC - Janine Schutt (jeschutt@hotmail.com)
North Kitsap CBC - Jennifer Standish (magma1306@gmail.com)
Liability Waiver Policy
Kitsap Audubon requires field trip participants to complete a liability waiver. This simple online form can be accessed via this link. Once a waiver has been signed, it will be valid for the remainder of the KAS operating year (September – June). Trip leaders will provide detailed instructions upon event registration.
The 27th annual Great Backyard Bird Count - Friday, February 16th, through Monday, February 19th, 2024
The Great Backyard Bird Count (birdcount.org), February 17-20, is a free, fun, and easy event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of bird populations. Participants are asked to count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the four-day event and report their sightings online at birdcount.org. Anyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from beginning bird watchers to experts, and you can participate from your backyard, or anywhere in the world. Each checklist submitted during the GBBC helps researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society learn more about how birds are doing, and how to protect them and the environment we share. Last year, more than 160,000 participants submitted their bird observations online, creating the largest instantaneous snapshot of global bird populations ever recorded.
Bird populations are always shifting and changing. For example, 2014 GBBC data highlighted a large irruption of Snowy Owls across the northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and Great Lakes areas of the United States. The data also showed the effects that warm weather patterns have had on bird movement around the country.
GBBC 2024 in a Snapshot:
7,920 species of birds identified
210 countries or subregions
384,416 eBird checklists
313,874 Merlin Bird IDs (step-by-step, sound, or photo)
164,740 photos, videos, and sounds added to Macaulay Library
642,003 estimated global participants
385 reported community events
KAS practice event in December 2018
Kitsap county Bird Count Saturday December 16th
AREA-WHERE-CONTACT-TELEPHONE-E-MAIL
1-Port Orchard Chazz Hesselein 360-633-0486 chazz@hesselein.com
2 -West Bremerton Brad Waggoner 206-780-9581 wagtail24@gmail.com
3 -Chico/Seabeck Lisa Pedersen 360-830-4768 lisa_mp52@yahoo.com
4 -East Bremerton Vic Ulsh 360-373-4824 viculsh13@hotmail.com
5 -South BI Lee & Kirk Robinson 206-842-0774 leerob9672@gmail.com
6 -North BI George Gerdts 206-842-8138 geopandion@gmail.com
7A-Silverdale/Keyport Al & Andrew Westphal 206-780-7844 westphalac@aol.com
7B- Poulsbo Gene & Sandy Bullock 360-394-5635 genebullock@comcast.net
Owls- Jamie Acker 206-499-7121 owler@sounddsl.com
Backyard Count-Janine Schutt 360-830-4446 jeschutt@hotmail.com
CBC Data Compiler- Janine Schutt 360-830-4446 jeschutt@hotmail.com
NK-Port Gamble Christmas Bird Count Saturday, December 30th
AREA WHERE CONTACT TELEPHONE E-MAIL
1 -Hansville Al & Andrew Westphal 206-780-7844 westphalac@aol.com
2 -Kingston Cindi Nevins 360-598-2243 tenevins@earthlink.net
3 -Port Gamble Judy & Don Willott 206-842-6939 jdwillott@mac.com
4 -Port Ludlow/Shine Jennifer Standish 206-293-9320 magma1306@gmail.com
5 -Poulsbo Gene & Sandy Bullock 360-394-5635 genebullock@comcast.net
6 -Miller Bay Nancy D’Archangel 360-271-6565 njdarchangel@gmail.com
CBC Compiler- Jennifer Standish 206-293-9320 magma1306@gmail.com
Owls- Jamie Acker 206-499-7121 owler@sounddsl.com
Backyard Count Janine Schutt 360-830-4446 jeshutt@hotmail.com
History of the Christmas Bird Count
From the National Audubon Website: How the count started, and how the data is used today.
Prior to the turn of the 20th century, hunters engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas "Side Hunt." They would choose sides and go afield with their guns—whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won.
Conservation was in its beginning stages in that era, and many observers and scientists were becoming concerned about declining bird populations. Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, an early officer in the then-nascent Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition—a "Christmas Bird Census" that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them.
You can check the CBC count circle website and zoom in on the map to see if you live within one of the count circles: 121st Christmas Bird Count: Map of Active Circles (arcgis.com)
Each CBC circle is 15 miles in diameter, with teams counting birds in defined segments. Following each CBC, the Compiler collects results from all teams, as well as backyard counters, and submits the final tallies to National Audubon.
Results from Christmas Bird Counts are used by ornithologists and others to monitor bird population trends and the impact of climate.
Jennifer and I would like to thank all of you for an amazing CBC this past year. Here are some interesting comparisons of the last 4 Kitsap Circle CBCs:
Kitsap County Bird Count
2022: 119 species, 16,089 individual birds, 46 volunteers
2021: 111 species, 13,660 individual birds, 33 volunteers
2020: 117 species, 22,667* individual birds, 45 volunteers
2019: 116 species, 21,557 individual birds, 72 volunteers
2018: 117 species, 22,275 individual birds, 70 volunteers
North Kitsap/Port Gamble/Hansville Bird
2022: 116 species, 13,258 individual birds, 41 volunteers
2021: 105 species, 7,209 individual birds, 35 volunteers
2020: 116 species, 15,940 individual birds, 45 volunteers
2019: 113 species, 12,593 individual birds, 48 volunteers
2018: 116 species, 11,247 individual birds, 66 volunteers
* Including 4,486 pine siskins, which shattered the previous record of 2,540 from 2012.
Here's to some fantastic birding in 2023!
Janine and Jennifer
Image from National Audubon GIS Map Viewer
GIS Map of Existing Counting Circles
This map displays all active circles expected to occur during Audubon’s 119th Christmas Bird Count. You can zoom in to a specific location, and click on the circle to find the upcoming date and contact information for the compiler, or coordinator of that circle.
Christmas Bird Count Results
This is the main page from which you can explore Christmas Bird Count results.
The information displayed here is a brief summary of the Christmas Bird Count results from the current season.
To begin viewing CBC data, hover your cursor over the "Current Year" or "Historical" headings at the top of the page. Each section will allow you to select "Results by Count" or "Results by Species" which you can view by clicking on the appropriate listing.
Kitsap Audubon’s Data can be found by searching:
United States/ Washington/ Kitsap County
United States/Washington/Port Gamble
Data can be searched by year and by count and species.
Expanded CBC roles for Janine Schutt and Jennifer Standish
Janine Schutt and Jennifer Standish have assumed the additional responsibilities of organizing our annual Christmas Bird Counts, in addition to compiling the results. Janine became compiler for our traditional CBC several years ago. Jennifer was appointed compiler for the new North Kitsap CBC, now in its second year.
Both will now have full responsibility for organizing and managing these two CBCs, including guiding and directing more than a hundred volunteers in 16 field teams, and those counting birds the same day in their own backyards.
Kitsap Audubon has been conducting annual Christmas Bird Counts since 1973, and just completed its 45th CBC. Gene Bullock has been organizing and promoting Kitsap Audubon’s annual Christmas Bird Counts for 15 years. Kitsap Audubon is blessed with outstanding CBC field team leaders. A number of them have been leading CB C field teams in Kitsap County for 15 to 20 years or more.