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Burlington Christmas Bird Count
December 14, 2023
Hoy Audubon Society requests all birders and those interested in helping look for and count birds to join the 124th annual Christmas Bird Count this month.
This nationwide program, coordinated by the National Audubon Society, is free and open to the public. It involves gathering information in designated count areas and from home feeder watchers to help scientists monitor the early winter range and numbers of bird populations throughout the decades. More information on Christmas Bird Counts can be found at www.christmasbirdcount.org.
In the Burlington/Waterford area, the count will be on Thursday, December 14. Contact count coordinator Nick Mimier at nickmimier AT yahoo DOT com or 262.363.8856 to sign up.
Home Yard/Feeder Watchers
You can report birds from your home yard/feeders if you’re within the designated count area as indicated on the map on this page. Feeder results for the designated count day should be emailed to the count coordinator; include your name, address, the species and number of each seen, the date and time, and the duration of time spent actively watching on the count day.
Field Teams
Existing field teams may cover their designated areas of the count circle individually or with others. If you are interested in joining an available field team if space permits, please contact the count coordinator. If you prefer a particular location to cover on your own, please contact the count coordinator to confirm if that area will be already covered or not (to avoid duplication of numbers).
“Count Week”
In addition to the specific count dates listed above, you may also report incidental observations of birds during the ‘count week’ for the respective count areas. This is the period within three days prior and within three days after the count day. This provides an opportunity for bird watchers to report birds that are found within the count area even though they may not have been observed on the designated count day. Typically these could be uncommon species or they may simply be common birds that might be missed on the count day. For species reported during the count week, but not on the count day, there is no need to provide numbers.
*** The count week for Burlington is December 11-17***
If you observe any unusual species prior to the count day, please contact the count coordinator so that they may contact the field party that may be covering the area on the count day. For instance, if you observe a white goose out in a field that you are unsure about its identity or if you happen to see a shrike in a tree on a day leading up to the count day, let the coordinator know so that the field party can take a closer look on the count day for that species.
Register Your Participation
Contact the specific count coordinator listed above. This is important in the event that count day is postponed a day (Wednesday, December 15) due to hazardous weather (e.g. blizzard, ice storm). In that case you can be advised if the count date is postponed.
Rare Bird Observations
An uncommon/rare species observed during the count could be one not normally seen in the state and/or is not typically observed during this time of year. Examples are listed on the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology web site at:
https://wsobirds.org/wso-review-list and
http://wsobirds.org/images/pdfs/ArrivalDeparture2020Fall.pdf
Such sightings can be emailed to the appropriate count coordinator; include date, location and a detailed description, including a comparison of its field marks with similar, more likely species. A photo would be very helpful in confirming its presence.
For a rare bird observation to be accepted, you may also be requested to submit a rare bird documentation form, found at
https://wsobirds.org/rare-bird-documentation. Contact the count compiler with any questions.