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.
The genus name Passerella (pass-er-EL-ah) is from Latin, passer, meaning a sparrow. The species name iliaca (eye-lih-AY-cah) is Latin relating to the marked flanks. The common name is from the reddish or tawny “fox” color of feathers. The Fox Sparrow (FOSP) is about 7” long with a wingspan of 10.5” and a weight of 1.1 oz. (32g). It is one of our largest sparrows.
At the time the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, MA the Passenger Pigeon was probably the most abundant bird in North America (Kaufman). Enormous nomadic flocks of these pigeons numbering in the millions roamed around the eastern two-thirds of the continent eating beechnuts, acorns, grains, and berries.
