CHR ISTMAS B IRD COUNT 
     
    
   
   
    
     History 
     
    
   
   
    
     "A bird in the bush is worth two in the hand.” 
     
     Motto of Bird Lore Magazine (circa 1900). 
     
    
   
   
    
     Never has such a prestigious event 
     
     had such a jaded history. The Audubon 
     
     Christmas Bird Count had a down-right 
     
     questionable beginning. Called the 
     
     Side Hunt, the famous count was 
     
     started by the British gentry who would 
     
     mark off distinct geographic units and 
     
     proceed to shoot everything in sight, 
     
     each team gaining points for each 
     
     animal killed. The rarer the species, the 
     
     more points the team was awarded. 
     
     After a 24 hour period, the winner was 
     
     announced based on his pile of 
     
     carcasses. 
     
    

    
     Sometime just before the turn of the 
     
     century, Frank Chapman, then the 
     
     editor of Bird Lore Magazine, decided 
     
     to organize an alternative to the annual 
     
     'side hunt.’ The story goes, that Chap- 
     
     man got the idea while strolling 
     
     through Central Park in New York. At 
     
     the time it was very fashionable for 
     
     New York's upper crust to adorn their 
     
     heads with some rather exotic collec- 
     
     tions of fine feathers. Some especially 
     
     sought after bird species were becom- 
     
     ing extremely rare. 
     
    

    
     Chapman then decided to launch an 
     
     alternative to the side hunt and this 
     
     would be the first Audubon Christmas 
     
     Bird Count. The intent was to gather 
     
     useful data on birds. Frank Chapman 
     
     is also the father of North American 
     
     bird field guides, having produced his 
     
     first guide in 1895, the predecessor to 
     
     today’s Pederson Field Guides. Today 
     
     the most popular field guides outsell 
     
     the Bible every year, a testimony to the 
     
     popularity and interest in birds today! 
     
    

    
     In 1900, Canada was only 33 years old 
     
     when the first Christmas Bird Counts 
     
     took place. Scotch Lake, N.B. and 
     
     Toronto were the first two CBCs in 
     
     Canada. Charlottetown, P.E.l. started in 
     
     1902, Okanagan Landing, BC. in 1905, 
     
     Edmonton in 1906, Ottawa 1907, and by 
     
     1925. 11 Canadian counts were estab- 
     
     lished. Today there are 180 counts 
     
     aCross Canada and 1,500 counts in the 
     
     Americas. 
     
    

    
     The event has burgeoned into one of 
     
     the most famous natural history events 
     
     in the world. In Canada, events are 
     
     organized by local natural history clubs 
     
     and conservation groups. This year 
     
     some 40,000 people will ‘Experience the 
     
     Birds of Christmas.’ 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     a. 
     
    
   
   
    
     O‘ 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     An uncommon bird is the Northern Shrike which is noted on many counts in Canada. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Picture Doug de Herries Smith. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In some places the count is taken so 
     
     seriously, it has taken on military pro- 
     
     portions. Successful Edmonton 
     
     Counter, Dr. lames Butler, recalls one 
     
     of the greats of Christmas Bird Counts. 
     
     Allan Cruickshank, now deceased, was 
     
     the Organizer of the Cocoa, Florida 
     
     Count for years and, "He was a tyrant, 
     
     he ran the count like a military opera- 
     
     tion," recalls Butler. “People would be 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     In 1986 Yardley lanes, the Edmonton Iournal 
     
     Cartoonist, created this character in honor 
     
     of Christmas Bird Counters. 
     
    
   
   
    
     -3'_ 
     
    
   
   
    
     flown in from California, Michigan, 
     
     Ohio, Tennessee, North Carolina and 
     
     even Illinois and unfortunately not 
     
     everyone could participate," remem. 
     
     bers Butler, himself an ornithologist. 
     
    

    
     “Cruickshank would turn down 100 
     
     counters a year," said Butler, explain- 
     
     ing that novices would have slowed the 
     
     unit down. Cruickshank's team would 
     
     scout the area for weeks in advance of 
     
     the count and rare species sightings 
     
     would be challenged by a panel. "I'm 
     
     glad I never saw anything rare," sighed 
     
     Butler. He now lives in Edmonton 
     
     where he is part of the largest Christ- 
     
     mas Bird Count in the world. In the 
     
     1986 count Edmonton sent 511 people 
     
     into the streets and ravines to turn up 
     
     almost 50,000 birds. 
     
    

    
     In terms of numbers of birds, the 
     
     undisputed Canadian championship 
     
     count is Vancouver where 140 individ. 
     
     ual species were recorded in one 
     
     count! By contrast, counters in the 
     
     Panama Canal Zone of Central America 
     
     found 311 species in their 24-km 
     
     diameter count circle in 1984. In the 
     
     U.S., Freeport, Texas turned up 222 
     
     species, topping the American counts 
     
     in 1984.