Christmas Bird Count

Volunteers from Bedford will be participating in the National Audubon Society's Christmas bird count on January 2, 2011. The Christmas bird count is an annual event that takes a census of the numbers of species and individual birds in circles of 15 miles in diameter throughout North and South America.

Several of Bedford's conservation areas are within the circle that has been registered with the National Audubon Society for Concord, MA. These conservation areas are:

• Clark
• Dellovo
• Little Meadow
• Vanderhoof
• Webber

All areas within a registered 15-mile diameter circle are eligible for bird counting. The circle registered in Concord includes many back yards in Bedford as well as some land in the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.

Participants may go out into the field to count birds on January 2nd or they may stay at home and watch their bird feeders. There is a five dollar charge for field participants (over 19 years old) and there is no charge for feeder watchers.

From the National Audubon Society's web page about the usefulness of the Christmas bird count:

The data collected by observers over the past century allow researchers, conservation biologists, and interested individuals to study the long-term health and status of bird populations across North America. In the 1980’s CBC data were used to document the decline of wintering populations of the American Black Duck, after which conservation measures were put into effect to reduce hunting pressure on this species.

Contact the Christmas bird count leader for Bedford to join a field team or to participate as a feeder watcher. Frank Gardner is a long-time Bedford conservation land steward and is leading the Bedford participants in the count this year. Send Frank email if you would like to join the count.