Christmas Bird Count
For the detailed report of the total number of species and individual birds seen per section for the 2021 CBC please click the link below. Any and all questions should be sent to Kathy Doddridge at kathydoddridge56@gmail.com.
Bradenton Circle 2021 CBC Results
A message from Kathy Doddridge, CBC Compiler:
Bradenton Circle CBC – December 18, 2021
Sixty-four men and women participated in the Bradenton Circle Christmas Bird Count as part of the 122nd National Audubon Society annual birding survey. This year, participants complied again with pandemic guidelines as smaller teams covered areas within each of the fourteen sectors. Teams tallied 153 species and 40,189 individual birds. An additional three species were recorded during the count week, which was three days prior and following December 18th. This year we had slightly lower totals in number of species and total counts observed, likely due to warmer weather further north lingering into the winter season.
Congratulations to all the sector leaders and team members for their outstanding efforts this year. I look forward to seeing many of you on the birding trail in 2022!
Kathy Doddridge, Compiler
Bradenton Circle Christmas Bird Count
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.
The conservation movement was still in its beginning stages in that era, and many observers and scientists were becoming concerned about the 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.