Christmas Birders Flock Together by Roy Book

Cocoa CBC, 2009

Come join us on one of Brevard’s annual Christmas Bird Counts where birders flock to count birds for a day.  This is a fun event you won’t want to miss!

CBC began over a century ago when 27 Conservationists in 25 localities, led by scientist Frank Chapman, changed the course of ornithological history.  On Christmas Day 1900, the small group of conservationists posed an alternative to the “side Hunt,” a Christmas day activity in which teams competed to see who could shoot the most birds and small mammals.  Instead, Chapman proposed to identify, count, and record all the birds they saw, founding what is now considered to be the most significant citizen-based conservation effort and a more than century-old institution.

Today, over 55,000 volunteers from all 50 states, every Canadian province, parts of Central and South America, Bermuda, the West Indies, and Pacific islands count and record every individual bird and bird species seen in a specified area.  Each count group completes a census of the birds found during one 24-hour period between December 14 and January 5 in a designated circle 15 miles in diameter-about 177 square miles.

We are fortunate to have three CBCs scheduled for Brevard County again this year. If you would like to join a flock for the day, please contact one of the listed co-compilers to sign up or for additional information.

• Cocoa – Saturday, December 18, 2010: Contact Dave Freeland (freela148@aol.com) or Dee Fairbanks Simpson (deefairbanks@mac.com) to participate.
• MINWR – Monday, December 20, 2010: Contact Ned Steel (321-452-1140, nedsteel@msn.com) or Jim Pedersen (321-267-4981, pedersenjc@adelphia.net) to participate
• South Brevard -- January 2, 2011: The South Brevard CBC is unique because it’s area is partially in Brevard and partially in Indian River County and is supported by both the Space Coast and the Pelican Island Audubon Chapters. Contact Roy Book (321-773-4618, rlbook@earthlink.net)  to participate.