Every December, thousands of volunteers across North America head outdoors to count birds — helping scientists understand how our feathered neighbors are doing. The Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) isn’t just a fun birding day — it’s the oldest and largest citizen science project in the world, and it depends entirely on volunteers like you.
Eastside Audubon is now accepting applications for two funding opportunities supporting local conservation and education efforts.
The Puget Sound Seabird Survey is looking for birders in King County to join this established Community Science program.
In the quiet of the woods the bubbling song of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet erupted, and the high trill of the Brown Creeper signaled its presence. The hormonal drive to breed had birds singing regardless of the weather.
Every December, thousands of volunteers across North America head outdoors to count birds — helping scientists understand how our feathered neighbors are doing. The Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) isn’t just a fun birding day — it’s the oldest and largest citizen science project in the world, and it depends entirely on volunteers like you.
Registration for the 2024 Eastside Audubon Christmas Bird Count will be open on November 4! The CBC is the world’s largest and longest-running community science data collection project. The 2024-2025 count period from December 14 to January 5 marks the 125th CBC sponsored by the National Audubon Society. It will be Eastside Audubon’s 41st CBC.
We are recruiting volunteers to join CBC teams or for feeder-watching at home. Go to the CBC page become a feeder watcher, join a field team, and attend the CBC dinner. We will have 15 field teams this year.
Eastside Audubon’s CBC Count Circle. 25-mile diameter centered on Beaver Lake in Sammamish.
The EAS CBC is an all-volunteer project, and we have three ways for you to participate.
Our chapter has 15 teams being led by experienced birders who are accepting 3-5 volunteer participants.
We also support at-home feeder watchers who count birds at their home feeder or other location within the 25-mile diameter circle centered on Beaver Lake in Sammamish.
View our CBC Count Circle here and see if your address falls inside the circle (top left for search field).
Everyone, whether birding or not, is invited to join the CBC dinner after the count.
Whether you participate by joining a field team, watching your feeder at home, or sharing in the experience of the day at the dinner, you can register for the event you want to join at the CBC page. Registration closes on December 10th. If you are interested after that date, please email Andy McCormick at amccormick@eastsideaudubon.org as we may still be able to get you on a team.
What good fortune we had on December 16 for the EAS 40th annual Christmas Bird Count! We Welcomed the moderate temperature and clear skies after last year’s freezing temperatures and the all-day rain, the year before. The birds were active and early returns show that we had exciting finds of Greater White-fronted Geese at Idlewood Park, a Redhead on Lake Sammamish, a Ruddy Duck at Lake Hills, and 40 Wilson’s Snipe at Perego Park. Other notable birds seen were Peregrine Falcon, Merlin, Lincoln’s Sparrow, and a Red-necked Grebe.
The chapter fielded 15 teams with 51 volunteers counting birds and feeder watchers added to the count. We also had six more volunteers who prepared, set up, and hosted the CBC dinner at the Kirkland Women’s Center. Nearly 40 people attended the dinner, which was the first one held since the pandemic. It was wonderful to see folks in person and get re-acquainted with other chapter members and guests.
A full report of the CBC including totals for all the bird species seen will be ready around early February when data is due for delivery to National Audubon. This was the 124th count that National Audubon has sponsored since its founding in 1900. The fifteen EAS teams went to the Snoqualmie Valley, Fall City and Preston, Redmond and Ames Lake, Marymoor Park, Sammamish and Pine Lake, Lake Sammamish State Park, the East Lake Sammamish Trail, West Lake Sammamish Parks, the Lake Hills Greenbelt, along Issaquah Creek and into the Issaquah Alps at Tiger and Cougar Mountains, and the Issaquah Fish Hatchery.
Mark your calendar for 2024. The EAS CBC is scheduled for Saturday, December 21, 2024.
Eastside Audubon invites its members to join the Christmas Bird Count from their homes this year through the Feeder Watch program. Bird enthusiasts of all levels are encouraged to observe birds from their home feeders or backyards during the December 16 event. This activity contributes to the nation’s largest and longest-running community science data collection project.
Participants should monitor their feeder or backyard for two hours and record their observations. "Mornings are usually the best time for birdwatching,” says Eastside Audubon compiler Andy McCormick. “We don’t expect the person to be there every minute.”
A list of common birds will be provided, and birders are advised to use eBird.org to identify difficult species.
Participants should submit their reports online. They are also invited to join an online Zoom gathering at 6 p.m. on the event day to share their observations with fellow participants.
Anyone who doesn’t live within Eastside Audubon’s coverage area is encouraged to join one of the 15 Field Teams that will identify and tally birds within assigned areas on December 16. Learn more about the Field Teams.
CBC Feederwatch count circle. The shaded area is the Eastside Audubon’s designated area for the Christmas Bird Count.
Registration for the 2023 Eastside Audubon CBC will be open on November 10 and there are openings for volunteers to join some CBC teams or to participate in feeder watching on Count Day. Go here to become a feeder watcher, join a field team, and join the Zoom celebration. We will have 15 field teams this year.
The EAS CBC is an all-volunteer project, and we have three ways for you to participate. Our chapter has 15 field teams being led by experienced birders who are accepting 3-5 volunteer participants. We also support at-home feeder watchers who count birds at their home feeder or other locations within the 25-mile diameter circle centered on Beaver Lake in Sammamish. Everyone, whether birding or not, is invited to join the Zoom celebration after the count.
The CBC is the world’s largest and longest-running community science data collection project. The 2023-2024 count period from December 14 to January 5 marks the 124rd CBC sponsored by the National Audubon Society. It will be Eastside Audubon’s 40th CBC.
Whether you participate by joining a field team, watching your feeder at home, or sharing in the experience of the day via Zoom, you can register for the event you want to join on November 10. Registration closes on December 9.
Eastside Audubon held its 39th Christmas Bird Count (CBC) on Saturday, December 17, 2022. The count was part of the 123rd CBC sponsored by the National Audubon Society. In total the teams found 94 species of birds on Count Day and a review of eBird postings for Count Week, which includes the three days before and three days after Count Day.
Registration for the 2022 Eastside Audubon CBC is open and there are still openings for volunteers to join on some CBC teams and feeder watching. Go to https://www.eastsideaudubon.org/christmas-bird-count to become a feeder watcher, join a field team, and join the Zoom celebration. We will have 15 field teams this year.
For the past two years under COVID-19 pandemic conditions, Eastside Audubon has conducted the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) with very small teams of one or two people. We were able to maintain continuity in our data collection, which was important, but we missed having full teams in the field. Now, we are resuming having more volunteers join birding teams for this year’s Christmas Bird Count Day on Saturday, December 17.
The CBC is the world’s largest and longest-running community science data collection project. The 2022-2023 count period from December 14 to January 5 marks the 123rd CBC sponsored by the National Audubon Society. It will be Eastside Audubon’s 39th CBC.
The EAS CBC is an all-volunteer endeavor and we have three ways for you to participate. Our chapter has 15 teams being led by experienced birders who are accepting 3-5 volunteer participants. We also support at-home feeder watchers who count birds at their home feeder or other location within the 25-mile diameter circle centered on Beaver Lake in Sammamish. Everyone, whether birding or not, is invited to join the Zoom celebration after the count.
Eastside Audubon wants to have more people involved in the CBC, but we also want to be careful to protect everyone from possible spikes in COVID-19 and flu infections. We will keep the field teams to 4-6 participants, and we will require wearing of masks while driving in a car for vaccinated people. We are going to postpone the after-count dinner for one more year and will host a Zoom celebration online.
Whether you participate by joining a field team, watching your feeder at home, or sharing in the experience of the day via Zoom, you can register for the event you want to join here. Registration closes on Dec. 10.
Eastside Audubon will be conducting the annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) in our count circle on Saturday, December 18, 2021. As we did last year, we will conduct the count with small teams and be following the Eastside Audubon COVID-19 protocol.
We are also recruiting people to join our CBC Feeder Watch Team and count birds at home. The only limitation is that you have to watch birds within the CBC Count Circle, which you can see below.
Any Audubon member may join the Post-Count Zoom Celebration and review the count day activities.
All registrations for Christmas Bird Count activities begin at https://www.eastsideaudubon.org/christmas-bird-count.
Each year our feeder watch team has been growing and we hope you will consider watching birds at your feeder and entering the total into our database to be included in the CBC total count. First, register with Eastside Audubon. Then, on Saturday, December 18, choose a two-hour period when the birds will be busiest around your feeder or yard.
Here is how to join the EAS CBC Feeder Watch Team and count birds at home. The deadline for registrations is December 12, 2021.
Register with Eastside Audubon by completing the online form at https://www.eastsideaudubon.org/christmas-bird-count.
We will check your address to determine if your home falls within the EAS CBC Count Circle and let you know if you are eligible to be a feeder watcher. You can check the Count Circle below.
Feeder watchers should watch their feeders for two consecutive hours. Count the maximum number of a species you see or hear at any one time. For example, if you start watching at 7:00 a.m. and see 3 Black-capped Chickadees at 7:20, but at 8:00 a.m. you see 5, your count would be 5, not 8. In another example, if you see a Steller’s Jay at 7:10, see 2 and hear a third from a nearby tree at 8:20, and 2 more at 8:50, your count will be 3 Steller’s Jays, the most seen and/or heard at one time.
As soon as you can after you count birds enter the data into the Feederwatch Data Sheet online. If you cannot enter data from your computer or cell phone make a list of the birds and the highest number you saw at one time and mail them to: Eastside Audubon, P.O. Box 3115, Kirkland, WA 98083-3115, or email them to amccormick@eastsideaudubon.org.
Thank you for being a feeder watcher and adding the birds in your yard to the Christmas Bird Count data.
Photo credit by Penelope Kipps.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant changes to our Christmas Bird Count this year. We could not form teams and carpools as we have for the past 36 years. However, team leaders were able to cover the CBC sections, and 15 others joined the ranks of our feeder watchers to help complete the count on Saturday, December 19, 2020.
This year’s Christmas Bird Count will be held on Saturday, December 14. This will bethe 120th year of the CBC, which is sponsored by the National Audubon Society. It will be the 36th year for Eastside Audubon’s count. Count Day is always a special day when chapter members work together as a unit with teams of 3-6 people covering 14 sections of a 15-mile diameter circle in our service area. All the birds seen or heard that day will be tallied and entered into the huge National Audubon database for the combined U.S. CBC.
