You Need To See My 2023 Christmas Bird Count Photos

You need to see my 2023 Christmas Bird Count photos from the inaugural Audubon Society of Western PA Mon Valley Christmas Bird Count at Renzie Park on Dec. 17th. A huge thank you to Martha Rial from the McKeesport Community Newsroom and Ben Kehoe from the Audubon Society of Western PA for inviting me.

Christmas Bird Count

What is the Christmas Bird Count? Since 1900 the Audubon Society has hosted Christmas Bird Counts as a way to take local census counts of birds.

As the Audubon Society explains, these counts were inspired by Christmas Side Hunts. The hunts were competitions to see who could pile up the most animals during a single outing. As the number of birds were dwindling (gee I wonder why) ornithologist Frank M. Chapman proposed counting, rather than shooting birds in 1900. Thus started the new tradition.

You can read more about the history of the Christmas Bird Count on the Audubon's website.

Today, the Christmas Bird Counts are a way for citizens to help ornithologists measure bird populations. Afterwards, the data that is collected is used by scientists to estimate bird populations and begin conservation efforts where needed.

The Inaugural Renzie Park Bird Count

On the morning of Dec. 17th Ben Kehoe, a Community Conservation Coordinator with the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania lead a group of volunteers through Renzie Park in McKeesport as part of the larger Mon Valley Christmas Bird Count. I was invited to join by Martha Rial to help answer photography questions.

The volunteers, many of whom were from the McKeesport Community Newsroom joined the count to flex their photography skills. I was so glad to meet everyone and answer their questions!

Bird Count Conditions

Temperatures were mild but the sky was full of clouds making for less than exciting photography opportunities. Still, everyone seemed to have a great time spotting birds, chatting about them, photography, and life in general.

Since most birds were high in the trees we had to adjust for the gray skies whenever taking photos but I still managed to get a few okay pictures. They won't be added to my portfolio but you can see the best of them throughout this article.

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 Mon Valley Birds

The Renzie Park Bid Count was one of 36 conducted this year in the Mon Valley. The way that Christmas Bird Counts are conducted is with one master list. Too, as Ben explained, as this is the first year of this count, it established the route that will be followed for future counts.

Ben kept our list and he submitted it to eBird. You can view the  Renzie Park Bird Count here. The reason you only keep one list, even though this is a group activity, is to try not to double count birds. Too, the added eyes and ears helps the counter to find and watch birds that have been counted so they're not double-counted.

Read more about bird counts in my article on the Wagoneer's Gap Hawk Watch.

eBird and Cornell University

If you're not familiar eBird is a project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University. eBird is a tool that citizen scientists, birders, bird photographers, and anyone interested can use. The tool allows you to keep track of birds in your area (at Christmas and year round).

In addition to eBird, Cornell offers a national migration forecast and a number of other great tools. The forecast, called Birdcast, allows you to see how many and what types of birds have passed through your area during migration. The maps on the forecast give you ideas of where birds are likely stopping as they pass through your location.

Read about the urgent need to embrace diversity and inclusion in ornithology.

Merlin

In addition to the eBird and the migration forecast Cornell also offers an app called Merlin. Merlin allows you to search for birds with your own photos. Too, it has databases full of bird calls. You can download calls for your local area. Then, Merlin can give you an idea of the birds you're hearing.

Speaking of Merlin. Here is a photo of a Merlin. This was my first time seeing one. I love raptors so this was incredibly exciting for me. Too, it was wonderful to share the experience with all the great volunteers on the Christmas bird count.

There's still time to join the Christmas count

The Christmas Count isn't over, at least not everywhere. You can find a bird circle in your area where there are counts still scheduled. They continue through Jan. 5th in most areas. Head over to the Audubon Society's Christmas Count page to find a count that hasn't happen yet in your area.

I promise that you'll have a ton of fun and learn a lot. Even if you're already an experienced birder or bird photographer you will still learn a bunch by attending one of these counts.

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Happy Holidays To All

Happy holidays to everyone and a huge thanks once again to Martha Rial and Ben Kehoe along with all of the participants at the Mon Valley Christmas Bird Count. You were all so much fun to meet and chat with and I can't wait to do it again!

Please join me on Sat. Dec 23rd in Frick Park for my free monthly nature photography meetup. We'll likely see and get to photograph a lot of birds. Too, be sure to visit my other website that is exclusively about my nature photography at Orkoskey.com.