The health of birds provides
a gauge by which scientists can measure the health of Planet Earth.
Every winter, during a three-week
period from mid-December to early January, about 55,000 volunteers head
out to tabulate numbers and species of birds within nearly 2,000 designated
circles in the Western Hemisphere.
Brock Hutchins of Fayetteville,
long-time coordinator of the Christmas Bird Count in Fayette and Coweta
counties, said the local count will take place this year on Saturday,
Dec. 20, rain or shine.
"We stay within a circle
15 miles in diameter, the center of which is roughly Turin," he said.
"Anyone with some experience birding is welcome to join us, but it
would not be a good day for novices."
Hutchins added that he wants
to hear from property owners who will permit counters to walk across their
land in their quest. The more variety of environments - woods, wetlands,
open fields, and borders - the greater variety of bird species.
The 2003 CBC will be the 104th,
and is expected to attract more counters than ever. Last year's event
encompassed 1,981 designated circles of about 177 square miles each.
About 73 million birds were
noted in 2002. Audubon ornithologists learned from information derived
from last year's count that several formerly robust species are in
decline, including the belted kingfisher, northern flicker, white-throated
sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, purple finch, pine siskin, and rusty blackbird.
Count results from 1900 to
the present are available through Audubon's website, www.audubon.org/bird/cbc.
Shifts of population, as well as increases and decreases in numbers, give
ornithologists data that can also be projected to human populations and
health.
Last year's tabulation,
for example, gave scientists a better picture of the effects of West Nile
virus on regional bird populations.
Feeder watchers are also welcome.
They simply count the birds that visit their backyard feeders for a given
hour and submit their information to the numbers brought in by counters
who plodded through fields and woods.
At the end of count day, local
birders bring their findings to a central meeting place where Hutchins
collects it and adds the local data to the Audubon database. Bird Studies
Canada's homepage (www.bsc-eoc.org) will present count results in
near real-time.
For more information or to
offer ingress to property, call Hutchins at 770-461-5042 or e-mail him
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