Arkansas birders have begun circling for the 115th annual Christmas Bird Count, which begins Sunday.
The Christmas count (aka "CBC") is a systematic census of birds within designated areas called circles that researchers revisit for one day once a year every year. Each circle is 15 miles wide, which is a lot of territory to cover in 24 hours.
Arkansas birders have until Jan. 5 to pay their annual visits to more than 20 circles.
Nobody could cover all that ground and count all those birds alone. The public is invited to help, and there's no fee.
"If people are interested in helping birds, it doesn't matter their experience level, they can help," says Leif Anderson of Hector, a forester with the U.S. Forest Service Big Piney Ranger District.
"It's the longest running bird research database in the world," Anderson says. "It's 115 years old. The data from it gets used a lot, especially like in Audubon's most recent climate change report. The Christmas Bird Count was half of the data that went into that climate change report."
But unlike the annual Great Backyard Bird Count held every February, random bird sightings don't, uh, count at Christmas. Participants must register with a contact person for their area, called the "circle compiler."
"There is a specific methodology to the CBC, and you must make arrangements to participate in advance with the circle compiler, but anyone can participate," says the Audubon Society on its webpages about the venerable citizen-science project -- birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count.
"Each circle is a 15-mile diameter and it's set," Anderson explains. "We use that same circle boundaries every year since the circle has been made. Like the Little Rock one hasn't changed since the 1920s, I think." (A map of that circle and the one for Lonoke can be seen at pbase.com/birddan/inbox.)
To ensure a representative sample is taken from all the different habitats within each circle, "usually a compiler assigns it to eight or 10 parties, and you can sometimes even add a lot more parties than that," he says.
"Somebody that is homebound could watch their bird feeders if they're in the count circle."
Each circle operates a little differently.
"It's basically a time to get out and have fun and just be outside and be with other birders," he says. "A lot of the counts, they may have a dinner afterward where they all get together and talk about the birds of the day. It can be as fun or relaxing a day as you want it to be.
"For some of us it's rather an intense day. ... It might be a 14-hour day for me. But that's not required. Even an hour is good for most people," he says, adding with a laugh, "Most people aren't crazy."
To find a circle compiler, anyone can click on the national website, follow a link and behold a map of the nation bedazzled with measles -- covered up with orange, red and green circles. Zoom in to find the borders of Arkansas; hover the mouse over any circle.
Or one could look at arbirds.org for the master list Anderson posts in the Birds of Arkansas discussion list (ARBIRD-L). The (still tentative) list here was updated Thursday.
Sunday
• Buffalo National River east (near Buffalo Point on Arkansas 14): Roy Stovall, roy.stovall@suddenlink.net, and Jack Stewart.
• Fayetteville: Joe Neal, joeneal@uark.edu, and Mike Mlodinow, mamlod@hotmail.com.
• Jonesboro: Virginie Rolland, vrolland@astate.edu.
• Lonoke: Dan Scheiman, birddan@comcast.net.
Monday
• Hot Springs Village: Chris Cash, c52cash@sbcglobal.net.
• Mountain Home: Alice Snyder, alice.m.snyder@gmail.com.
Dec. 17
North Fork of the Illinois Bayou (near Hector): Sarah Davis, sadavis@fs.fed.us.
Dec. 18
• Bayou DeView (near Brinkley): Steve Osborne, jsteveosborne@gmail.com
• Mississippi River State Park (near Marianna): Tara Gillanders, tara.gillanders@arkansas.gov
Dec. 20
• Arkadelphia: Evelyn and Glenn Good, theoldcrow@sbcglobal.net
• Crooked Creek (near Harrison): Alan Gregory, quattro@windstream.net
• Fort Smith: Bill Beall, billtoka@mynewroads.com
• Little Rock: Dan Scheiman, birddan@comcast.net
• Village Creek State Park: Heather Runyan, heather.runyan@arkansas.gov
Dec. 21
Conway: Allan Mueller, akcmueller@gmail.com, and Michael Linz, mplinz@gmail.com.
Dec. 27
Wapanocca National Wildlife Reserve: Dick Preston, dickpreston@bigriver.net, co-compiler with Tennessean Van Harris, shelbyforester1223@bigriver.net
Dec. 29
Pine Bluff: Rob Doster, calcarius@comcast.net.
Jan. 1
Lake Dardanelle: Kenny Nichols, kingbird@ymail.com.
Jan. 2
Lake Georgia Pacific/Felsenthal National Wildlife Reserve: Leif Anderson, leanderson@fs.fed.us
Jan. 3
• Hot Springs National Park: Shelley Todd, shelley_todd@nps.gov
• Mount Magazine: Don Simons, don.simons@arkansas.gov
• White River National Wildlife Refuge: Keith Sutton, catfishdude@sbcglobal.net.
Jan. 4
Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge: Leif Anderson, leanderson@fs.fed.us.
Counts are also possible for circles at Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Magnolia/Lake Columbia and Texarkana.
ActiveStyle on 12/08/2014