KEARNEY — This Christmas custom is for the birds. Literally.
On Friday, residents of Kearney and areas north of the town are invited to take part within the nationwide Audubon Christmas Bird Count.
People can watch by their home windows or go exterior to maintain observe of what birds come to their chicken feeders or yards. They will then e-mail the outcomes no later than Wednesday, Dec. 20 to [email protected].
Ever since 1900, the National Audubon Society has held Christmas Bird Counts throughout the vacation season to trace the variety of chicken species all around the nation.
This would be the first time since 1965 that tallies in Kearney shall be a part of the official Christmas Bird Count, in keeping with Jacob Cooper, who got here to Kearney this summer season as an assistant professor of biology on the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
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He’s a veteran of chicken counts, so when he realized {that a} historic chicken rely had not been completed right here in a number of years, he obtained it going.
The rely is completed inside a Dec. 14-Jan. 5 timeframe, however counts in every space are completed on a single day.
“The goal is to count all of the birds in a 15-mile-diameter circle centered on the Platte River Bridge south of Kearney so we can tabulate bird numbers and compare them to regional trends,” he stated.
To take part, individuals must report:
- Their location (so Cooper can confirm whether it is within the rely circle)
- How a lot time they spent counting
- How a lot space they lined (in case you watched from home or moved round your property or neighborhood)
- How many of every species of chicken they noticed.
People who see uncommon birds, or these they’ll’t establish, can outline them as unknown, or submit pictures with their report. Cooper will submit his sightings in eBird as effectively.
The counts ought to embrace solely these birds seen on Friday, he stated, “but if there was an unusual bird seen between December 13-17, please also let us know.”
All of Kearney and the Glenwood neighborhood to the north are a part of the rely space.
They ought to embrace their avenue names or basic neighborhoods so he can affirm that they’re inside the rely circle. He doesn’t want a particular avenue deal with.
Cooper has completed 10 chicken counts in his life. He did the countywide Grand Junction Christmas Bird Count in Colorado, the place he grew up. He even rafted down the Colorado River in December as a part of that effort.
Twenty years in the past, he was the Christmas Bird Count compiler for Delta, Colorado. He has additionally completed Christmas chicken counts in Hotchkiss, Colorado; Blanchardville, Wisconsin, Lawrence, Kansas, Loess Bluffs and Four Rivers, Missouri, Jackson County, Illinois, and Middle Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge in Illinois, and War Bluff Valley, Illinois.
“Christmas Bird Counts are a great opportunity to get out and see local birds that are here for the wintertime. It’s a good opportunity to meet people (whether in person or virtually) and you never know what people may find,” he stated.
The Christmas Bird Count started small 124 years in the past, however by 2020-21, 72,815 volunteers at 2,459 websites within the U.S., Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific counted 2,355 species.
“Most importantly, data submitted to the Christmas Bird Count becomes part of a nationwide database to monitor birds worldwide,” Cooper stated.
For extra data, e-mail Cooper at [email protected].
