Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Home
Today's Show: Wandering Albatross Molt
Wandering Albatross flying low over the water, it's long gray wings stretched out, white body held horizontal, pink beak
Listen In
  • Today's Show
  • Listen
    • Daily Shows
    • Threatened
    • Grouse
    • BirdNote Presents
    • How to Listen
  • Explore
    • Field Notes
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Birdwatching
    • Resources for Educators
  • How to Help Birds
    • At Home
    • In Your Community
    • Success Stories
  • About
    • The BirdNote Story
    • The Team
    • Partners
    • For Radio Stations
    • Funding
    • Contact Us
    • FAQs
    • Support BirdNote
  • Donate

Christmas Bird Counts at the Extremes

From Alaska to Florida, counting birds is fun and rewarding!
Subscribe to the Podcast
Download
  • Share This:
  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Email
© Judd Patterson

This winter, volunteers will tally birds in more than 2,000 locations as part of the annual Christmas Bird Count. In the U.S., birders will venture forth at the very extremes of the country’s geographic reach. At Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, a few hardy souls will count birds in deep twilight, since the sun doesn’t rise there for nearly two months between Thanksgiving and mid-January! Meanwhile, in the Dry Tortugas in southern Florida, birders slather on the sunscreen to count tropical seabirds like this pair of Masked Boobies. (Click on View Large to see the two birds!)

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote®  

Christmas Bird Counts at the Extremes

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.

[Clip clop of a horse + jingle of bells]

Every winter since 1900, birdwatchers have taken to the field in Christmas Bird Counts. This winter, between December 14th and January 5th, legions of volunteers will tally birds in more than 2,000 locations. 

In the U.S., birders will venture forth at the very extremes of the country’s geographic reach. [blustery winter wind] At Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, a few hardy souls will count birds in a kind of deep twilight, since the sun doesn’t rise here at all for nearly two months between Thanksgiving and mid-January. Across 25 years of counts, Prudhoe Bay’s census takers have seen from a handful to as many as 129 birds – every last one of them a Common Raven. [Common Raven typical croak]

Meanwhile, a Christmas Bird Count in the Dry Tortugas – at the southern tip of Florida – enters its tenth year. [waves + selection from “Drinkin’ Rye”] Here birders slather on the sunscreen to count tropical seabirds like Masked Boobies and Sooty Terns [Sooty Terns flock call], and wintering shorebirds like Willets [Willet calling]. 

And while there are no ravens to count on the Dry Tortugas, birders can take solace in colorful songbirds like these Palm Warblers [Palm Warbler song].

To find out more about joining a Christmas Bird Count near you begin at birdnote.org.  I’m Mary McCann. 

###

Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Calls of Common Raven [137574] recorded by G.Vyn; flock of Sooty Tern [34606] by O. Hewitt; call of Willett [133097] by G.A. Keller; song of Palm Warbler [98809] by G.A. Keller.

Wind Nature SFX Essentials #1 and surf #29 recorded by Gordon Hempton of QuietPlanet.com.  

Musical selection from Too Slim and the Taildraggers “Drinkin’ Rye” album Swamp Opera.

BirdNote's theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.

Producer: John Kessler

Executive Producer: Chris Peterson

© 2013 Tune In to Nature.org December 2016 Narrator: Mary McCann.

ID#  cbc-07-2013-12-11cbc-07

Useful links: http://birds.audubon.org/sites/default/files/documents/ab_110_twilightz…

http://birds.audubon.org/counting-ravens-prudhoe-bay-alaska

http://birds.audubon.org/inside-cbc

http://southfloridabirding.com/html/DrytortugasCBC2008.htm

Bob Sundstrom
Writer
Mary McCann
Narrator
Judd Patterson
Photographer
Support More Shows Like This
TagsAlaska citizen science

Related Resources

Get involved in a Christmas Bird Count near you95-year-old Chan Robbins talks about the CBC. Listen!Listen to a BirdNote show about the Christmas Bird Count for KidsCommon Raven - More at All About BirdsMasked Booby - More at All About BirdsPalm Warbler - More at All About BirdsSooty Tern - More at AudubonWillet - More at All About Birds

More About These Birds

Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra)

Sula dactylatra

Common Raven (Corvus corax)

Corvus corax

Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum)

Dendroica palmarum

Sights & Sounds

Related Field Notes

May 6, 2020

Dr. Bill Keppler's Responsible Stewardship

By Jason McCue
This blog is the first in a series about the ways that members of the BirdNote comm
August 14, 2013

Studying Pigeon Guillemots as a Citizen Scientist

By Chris Peterson
What’s it like to be a citizen scientist studying Pigeon Guillemots?

Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

Support BirdNote

  • Daily Shows
  • Field Notes
  • BirdNote Presents
  • Sights & Sounds
  • About BirdNote
  • Contact BirdNote
Sign up for our newsletter!
  • BirdNote on Facebook
  • BirdNote on Twitter
  • BirdNote on Instagram

Copyright 2021. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy