Christmas Bird Count
Hayward Fremont County CBC
The Christmas Bird Count is an annual nationwide volunteer-based bird survey effort coordinated by the Audubon Society to promote bird conservation and assess long-term trends in winter bird populations. In the largest citizen science effort in the world, tens of thousands of volunteer birders and scientists armed with binoculars, bird guides and checklists will take part in Christmas bird counts throughout the Americas from mid-December through early January. Audubon and other organizations use data collected in this longest-running wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations and to help guide conservation actions.
The Ohlone Audubon Society has been completing the Hayward-Fremont CBC since 1967. The count area is very rich in avian diversity from the salt marsh habitats of the Hayward hills, Fremont's wetlands to the south, and all the parks and canyons in between.
In 2009, Rich Cimino and Jeff Miller organized the first ever Eastern Alameda County CBC. The count area is in the vicinity of Sunol, Pleasanton and Livermore, and includes five East Bay Regional Parks, significant San Francisco watershed lands, and birding hotspots such as lower Mines Road, Sunol Wilderness, Del Valle Reservoir, and the Springtown area in Livermore. You can view a summary of 2009-2014 bird count data for eastern Alameda County by clicking on the link. More than 2 million individual birds counted in 6 years, of 177 different species.
Each count day culminates with a festive dinner where final counts are tallied and stories exchanged about rare bird sightings and locations. Local CBC data, sent to the National Audubon Society, are a crucial part of this country's natural history monitoring database provide valuable insight into the past and present status and health of continental bird populations and the general health of our environment. Recent and historical CBC results are available on the National Audubon Society's website.
You can now access the count at: http://netapp.audubon.org/CBCObservation/CurrentYear/resultsByCount.aspx. Just click on the country and state and add our codes: cahf or caea.
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Sign up for Audubon's Citizen Science Newsletter to Receive CBC Results
As you may know, Audubon is moving to digital delivery of the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) results rather than printing and mailing American Birds, the CBC summary, to participants. In its place, Audubon will be producing a quarterly citizen science eNewsletter which will contain the results of all our Citizen Science programs, including the articles and summaries that previously were distributed in the printed CBC summary editions of American Birds.
If you would like to receive this citizen science eNewsletter, you must sign up online at www.audubon.org/citizenscience by entering your email address just to the right of "Want to keep up with Citizen Science?" If you have already signed up to receive the new Citizen Science eNewsletter, many thanks--you will receive the first issue of American Birds online next week.
Joining Audubon's online citizen science network ensures you will receive updates on the latest research results, reports from Audubon scientists, and quarterly notification about count summaries posted online. In addition, you will learn about other citizen science programs and opportunities that may interest you. Please take a moment to sign up now and also to share this information with others who may find it of interest.
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SUNDAY DECEMBER 19, 2021
Join us for the 122nd National Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Please come out again this year and participate in this worthwhile Citizen Science.
We are expecting to hold our annual Christmas Bird Count this year, albeit with all precautions!
We have been successful in years past and need your help to be successful once more. Remember, this is Citizen Science of the highest degree. It must be stressed that our success in securing the important, basic scientific accuracy of the count hinges on coverage and consistency (participants - you!). The count benefits from the hard work of our 17 section leaders and participation of each person who carries out the necessary jobs. We still need help though. We have planned for more small birding groups only, at the area leader’s discretion.
All safety precautions, as for our field trips, must be adhered to, therefore, we are encouraging more feeder counts this year! Involve your neighbors! If you would like to participate as a feeder counter, please contact us with your address and we will let you know if your home is in the count circle. Data, including species seen and numbers along with hours watched, can be submitted to pagpegATaol.com.
We will be holding a ZOOM meeting on count night December 19th. The count night meeting will begin at 7:30 PM, where we expect to exchange exciting events of the day. Anyone can join the Zoom Post Count Meeting by emailing Pat Gordon for details at pagpeg AT aol.com.
Questions, or to join us contact us at Phil and Pat Gordon, pagpeg AT aol.com, or call 510-538-3550.
FEEDER COUNTERS NEEDED!
Got a special bird at your feeder? Please count birds at your feeder on Sunday December 19th and submit data to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., with species and numbers seen. Include hours watched. This data is very important also. You can check with us to determine if your feeder is in the count circle.
(Phil & Pat Gordon, pagpeg AT aol.com or 510-538-3550)
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Eastern Alameda County Count Details
FRIDAY DECEMBER 17, 2021
You are invited to join the 2021 Eastern Alameda County Christmas Bird Count that will take place on Friday December 17th. This is the 13th year of the count. Many of you have been on board since the beginning. This CBC count is centered in the Pleasanton area. The EAC-CBC has contributed to the bird population data during the drought, Sierra Nevada forest fire species in flux, and has been a contributor documenting the wintering raptor populations of eastern Alameda County.
The count will be held with saftey precautions. Please consider joining this CBC which OAS co-sponsors. Contact Jeff Miller at jeff AT alamedacreek.org