JAUNTS : VENTURA COUNTY WEEKEND : Area Bird Lovers to Join National Tally as They Go Out for the Count : Two local Audubon clubs will be on the lookout for avians Sunday at the annual winter event. The census gauges the impact of pollution, loss of habitat and climate changes.

Bird lovers will fan out all over Ventura County on Sunday to count and identify as many birds as they can during a marathon outing: the annual Christmas Bird Count.

And this is not some birdbrained idea. For nearly a century, the National Audubon Society has organized nationwide bird counts during the winter holidays, and now they extend through Canada and other parts of the Western Hemisphere.

In Ventura County, two Audubon clubs are doing the count Sunday, from dawn to dusk. You can help, and you don’t need to be a bird expert, although some bird knowledge is helpful.

“It’s always good to have another set of eyes, even though they may not know what it is,” said Art Marshall, president of the Ventura Audubon Society chapter.

If you go, your eyes will be put to the test. Last year the club rounded up 95 members and other bird watchers who counted about 21,000 birds and 190 species.

The Conejo chapter has racked up some impressive numbers too. During the last 22 years of Christmas Bird Counts, the club has averaged 26,200 birds and 156 species.

The high counts in Ventura County--even higher in Santa Barbara County--are due, in part, to the diligence of these birders. Some go out a few days before the count to stake out different species. But the county’s location has a lot to do with it.

“We’re in a unique flyway,” Marshall said. The area serves as a wintering ground for the birds.

The census is intended to shed light on whether pollution, loss of habitat and climate changes have had some impact on bird populations. The count often shows fluctuations in numbers.

“But there’s been no great decline,” Marshall said.

The census does turn up surprises. Last year, birders spotted two swans in the Santa Clara River bed. And the count has its funny moments, like when counters approached a peregrine falcon, only to find out it was someone’s pet.

The data collected from these annual counts goes into a database of scientific information about the health of bird populations. But that wasn’t the reason for the first Christmas Bird Count in 1900.

It was organized as a protest against the traditional holiday hunts in which teams would compete to shoot the most birds and animals in one day. That year, 27 conservationists around the country decided to count the birds instead of shoot them.

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The idea caught on. Now about 1,700 holiday bird counts from Alaska to South America involve more than 44,000 bird lovers. The counts are held between Saturday and Jan. 2.

It works this way: Each club has a designated territory, a circle 15 miles in diameter that includes 177 square miles. The Ventura club’s center is off Canada Larga Road north of Ventura, while Conejo’s is in Newbury Park. Each territory is divided into sections and assigned to a leader, a bird expert who directs a group of less experienced watchers.

This is not an armchair visit to the outdoors. “You walk all day,” said the Conejo club’s Elliot McClure. One group in his territory walks down Sycamore Canyon from Newbury Park to the ocean. Others flush out birds around Lake Casitas or as far south as Point Mugu. They cover hilltops, valleys, streams and fields.

Some birders board a National Park Service boat and scour the coastline for half the day, looking for seabirds. To flush out the birds, they toss popcorn into the water. They see many kinds of sea gulls and grebes and, if they’re lucky, rare auklets or shearwaters.

If you participate in the count, you might see golden eagles, bald eagles, hawks and more common birds such as the house finch, scrub jay, mockingbird or Anna’s hummingbird.

The count officially runs for 24 hours, but most of it takes place during daylight hours. Some ardent birders, however, traipse around after dark in search of owls.

If you go, what should you bring? Birders take binoculars or even telescopes. Not to worry if your bird expertise is shaky. Less experienced watchers are often asked to help tally bird numbers.

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DETAILS

* WHAT: Christmas Bird Count.

* WHEN: Sunday, generally from sunrise to dusk.

* WHERE: Location assigned. Call to sign up.

* HOW MUCH: $5 donation requested by National Audubon Society to cover cost of analyzing data.

* FYI: Conejo Valley Audubon Society, 289-0440 or 482-0411; or Ventura Audubon Society, 648-2495 or 643-5825.