Christmas Bird Counts

 Christmas Bird Count (CBC) dates and contact information in the Berks County Area each circle is a 7.5 mile radius circle. The dates and contact info are below. If you want to help by counting birds at your bird feeders please contact the compiler listed for each count. Please pre-register with the compiler listed below and see the instructions for feeder counting to the on this page!

to zoom in and see details of the map of circles click on this link Active map of Christmas bird Count circles near Berks County, PA

If you click on any of the colored circles you will see the name of that count area.

-----------------------

CBCs in the Berks County Area.

If you would like to help out either in the field or by feeder watching if you are in the cricle's area contact the individual count's listed compiler.

More about Christmas Bird Counts (Tentative Dates)

(Tentative - December 17, 2023) (Sunday) - Reading Christmas Bird Count

Compiler: Lucy Cairns 610-223-4501 ljanetcairns@gmail.com

(Date - TBD) - Elverson Christmas Bird Count

Compiler: Jim Cook 610-587-7545 cell, 610-286-5021 work, jim@elversonsupply.net 

(Date - TBD)  - Hamburg Christmas Bird Count

Compiler: Laurie Goodrich 570-943-3411 ext. 106

(tentative -January 4, 2024) (Thursday) - Bernville Christmas Bird Count

Compiler: Mike Slater paplantings@gmail.com 

--------

Each CBC circle covers far more than the named town please see the map and zoom in!

By Lucy Cairns, Compiler of the Reading CBC.

For CBC data to be useful, the rules for both counting birds and

reporting ‘effort’ data must be followed exactly. 

The minimum feeder watchers need to know:  

• Count birds only on the Count Day. For Reading's CBC this year that day is December 19, 2021
• For each species, record the maximum number of individuals present AT ONE TIME during your counting period. This is to avoid counting any individuals twice. So, if you have 12 House finches at one time and later there are 20 present, your count should be 20 and not 32.
• You can include birds heard but not seen, if you are confident of your identification
• You can count for any amount of time you wish, including more than one session through the day. 
• Total time spent counting should be reported. If you stop focusing on your feeder birds at any time for more than a couple of minutes, subtract that time

from your count total.

•  If you are an eBirder, you can choose to report by sharing an eBird checklist with the compiler, using the email address given 
• or you may send your completed checklist (Available from each count's compiler. ) and the total time you spent counting (rounded to nearest quarter-hour) to the compiler, your compiler within one week of our count date.

For The Reading CBC that is 

Lucy Cairns 

2000 Cambridge Ave, Apt. 336

Wyomissing, PA 19610

ljanetcairns@gmail.com

610-223-4501

 The CBC does not include birds reported as ‘sp’ (i.e., chickadeesp or sparrow sp) if any others are reported ‘to the species’ (i.e.Carolina chickadee or White-throated sparrow). Since the vast majority of chickadees in our count area now are Carolina chickadees, report any chickadees as Carolinas unless you are experienced at discerning the differences and provide a detailed justification for IDing a Black-capped chickadee. 

Cornell's Project Feeder Watch has a good page on separating these two species when seen at your bird feeders

"History of the Christmas Bird Count "Prior to the turn of the 20th century, hunters engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas "Side Hunt." They would choose sides and go afield with their guns—whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won.

Conservation was in its beginning stages in that era, and many observers and scientists were becoming concerned about declining bird populations. Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, an early officer in the then-nascent Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition—a "Christmas Bird Census" that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them."

From The Audubon Society's web site

Each Christmas Bird Count (CBC) endeavors to count :All of the birds" in an area in one day (24 hours) in an area defined as a circle of 7.5 miles radius centered on a specific point. Each Circle. Now Circles are not supposed to overlap, but older established one do Such as a few in the Lancaster and Philadelphia areas do.

In the Reading/Berks County PA area we have the following 5 counts that cover part of Berks County, PA

(SEE OUR GOOGLE MAP)

• Reading CBC
• Elverson CBC
• Hamburg CBC
• Bernville CBC
• Lehigh CBC

and nearby

• Lebanon  CBC
• Schuylkill County CBC
• Lititz CBC

 Anyone involved in the CBC can submit photos taken during a CBC intothe online CBC photo gallery. Go to the CBC web page atwww.christmasbirdcount.org and click on Join the Christmas BirdCount. On the page this takes you to, click on the link in ‘Step 5.’Photos must be submitted by the original photographer so that termsof use can be obtained. 

 Please donate to support the Christmas Bird Count! We rely solely ondonations. http://birds.audubon.org/action-items/donate-christmas-bird-countThanks again for joining this important conservation project! Do nothesitate to email or call me if you have any questions.