Audubon Christmas Bird Count to be held at Frank Russell Recreation Area in Hannibal on Saturday

HANNIBAL, Mo. — The 125th anniversary of the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count is set for Saturday, Dec. 14, with the local count sponsored by the Mississippi Hills Master Naturalist chapter. Volunteers should meet at 8 a.m. at Mark Twain Lake’s Frank Russell Recreation Area.

Teams are divided that morning to cover an assigned area. Much of the bird observations and counting happens from a car. An outside group will hike one of the trails. Volunteers should bring binoculars and dress for the weather. New volunteers will be matched with more experienced Christmas Bird Count participants.

More information is available from George Wisdom at gwwisdom@gmail.com.

The Christmas Bird Count started as a way of promoting conservation by counting, rather than hunting, birds on Christmas Day of 1900. Before 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 Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition — a “Christmas Bird Census” — that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them. Twenty-five Christmas Bird Counts were held that day. The locations ranged from Toronto, Ontario, to Pacific Grove, Calif., with most counts in or near the population centers of northeastern North America.

From Dec. 14 through Jan. 5 each year, tens of thousands of volunteers brave the weather to take part in the effort. Audubon and other organizations use data collected in this long-running wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations and help guide conservation action.