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Bird watchers wanted for annual Lake Geneva Christmas count

The Lake Geneva Christmas Bird Count takes place Jan. 2. File photo by Dan Plutchak/staff.

LAKE GENEVA -- Bird watchers can help keep track of their feathered friends during the annual Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count.

The count is the longest running citizen science survey in the world and Walworth County bird watchers can participate Jan. 2.

That's when the Lake Geneva Christmas Bird Count takes place, covering a 15-mile circle with its center at The Lodge at Geneva Ridge, W4240 Wisconsin Highway 50.

Participants can do field counts, bird feeder counts and/or owl searches early or late in the day.

Among the highlights of last year’s count were seven bald eagles, plus numerous hawks. Fifty-seven species were found, with a total of 6,269 individual birds.

The count has become a tradition among generations.

Families, students, birders and scientists, armed with binoculars, bird guides and checklists go out on an annual mission -- often before dawn.

For more than one hundred years, the desire to both make a difference and to experience the beauty of nature has driven dedicated people to leave the comfort of a warm house during the Holiday season.

Each of the citizen scientists who annually braves snow, wind, or rain, to take part in the Christmas Bird Count makes an enormous contribution to conservation, according to the Audubon Society.

The Audubon Society and other organizations use data collected in this longest-running wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations -- and to help guide conservation action.

The data collected by observers over the past century allow researchers, conservation biologists, and other interested individuals to study the long-term health and status of bird populations across North America.

When combined with other surveys such as the Breeding Bird Survey, it provides a picture of how the continent's bird populations have changed in time and space over the past hundred years.

The local count is sponsored by the Lakeland Audubon Society, and participants can contact count coordinator, Mariette Nowak at (262) 642-2352 for more information.

Links

Compilers can enter their data HERE.

View results from this year's count or from previous years.

Follow Audubon on Twitter.

Follow Audubon on Facebook.