Flocking Together to Count Birds at Christmastime

The holiday season means different things to different people. To members of the National Audubon Society, it’s time to count birds.

Each year, Audubon members across the country take part in the Christmas Bird Count, which is undertaken partly in the spirit of a little competition between chapters, although the data collected has some scientific value as well. There are more than 1,500 counts in the 48 contiguous states.

For members of the local Sea & Sage chapter of the organization, the coastal bird count comes Jan. 2, and takes in some of the county’s most popular birding spots--including Huntington Central Park, and the Bolsa Chica and Upper Newport Bay wetlands areas (the chapter’s inland count took place Saturday).

The Sea & Sage count will cover coastal Orange County and a few inland areas, including the hills around UC Irvine, Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley and Huntington Central Park. The area is divided into sections, and each counter stays in a designated section all day.

Experienced birders can make the biggest contribution to the count, but novices can take part too, although it is not a guided field trip.

“We’re not out there telling people what to look at,” organizer Jerry Tolman has said. Novice birders are often employed tallying the birds spotted by their more experienced cohorts.

For those interested in taking part, it’s best to contact the chapter as soon as possible, so that organizers can make section assignments.

The count begins before the sun comes up and continues until the sun goes down, no matter the weather. Count totals can be affected by rain or wind, but Orange County generally places very well nationally--it has even tied for the top spot for total number of bird species counted.

Orange County does well because of the number of birders and the number of birds. The area attracts both shore birds, because its wetlands and its location along a major migration route, and a healthy number of land birds--some migrants, some year-round residents.

The bird count tallies both the number of species spotted, and the number of individual birds seen.

Results for the county are published in the Sea & Sage newsletter in February and March. National results appear in the December, 1994, issue of American Birds magazine. Participants in the count pay a $5 fee to help cover the costs of editing and publishing the national report.

* What: Coastal bird count.

* When: Sunday, Jan. 2, dawn to dusk.

* Where: Depends on where you get assigned.

* Whereabouts: Get directions from area leader.

* Wherewithal: $5.

* Where to call: Jerry Tolman, (714) 539-8040.