Sunday, December 17, 7:45am
Meet in front of Insitituto Allende, Ancha de San Antonio 20
Free: pre-registration necessary

Christmas Bird Count - tour

By Signe Hammer

Come join Audubon de México for a fun morning outdoors!
Be among the thousands of birders from Canada to South America who will team up to count birds between mid-December and early January. AT 118 years, the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is the longest-running Citizen Science survey in the world. San Miguel's CBC is on Sunday, December 17.

How does it work? Teams fan out to count all the birds they can find on a single day within a 15-mile-diameter circle. San Miguel is one of many circles in Mexico, and we count birds at three sites within our circle: El Charco del Ingenio, our beautiful botanical garden; a richly varied site along the Rio Laja, near the bridge at Cieneguita; and Peña Blanca, another bird-rich site a few miles past the Presa Allende dam. This year, at Peña Blanca we're combining the CBC with our regular December Audubon birdwalk. Look for the birdwalk announcement next week.

Why count birds? In addition to having fun, the three teams combine their bird-count numbers and our count compiler, Luke Rich, enters them online. The complete CBC data provide a living snapshot of bird populations throughout the Americas, helping researchers study their movements and overall health.

CBC data was key to U.S. Audubon's landmark Birds and Climate Change Report, which predicts that well before the end of the century global warming will force more than half of North America's bird species out of their current ranges. From CBC reports, we know that American Kestrels, the small, colorful falcons we see perched on poles out in the campo, will be moving northward. And that the bright-red-faced House Finches that warble cheerily from trees around town are increasing their range.

So whether you're an experienced or novice birder, come help us count birds on December 17! We'll meet at 7:45am in front of the Instituto Allende, form teams and carpool to the sites. So if you have a car, please bring it.

Wear sturdy walking shoes and bring water and a hat. We'll have telescopes and a few pairs of binoculars to lend. We'll count for about 3 hours, starting by 9am. You should be back by about 12:30, happy with your contribution to Citizen Science!

Please contact audubondemexico@gmail.com to preregister with your name, phone number, and whether you can bring a car with room for fellow-counters.