Every year around the holidays, birders swarm the countryside looking for our feathered friends in the annual Dallas County Christmas Bird Count.
The date for this year’s bird count is Saturday, Dec. 19.
The data is collected, compiled and sent to the National Audubon Society for analysis of population trends.
“The National Audubon Society asks us to proceed with very strict COVID-19 protocols,” said Dallas County Conservation Naturalist Mike Havlik, who coordinates the annual count. “This means driving your own car, walking separately, bringing your own lunch and e-mailing your data. By following these guidelines, I believe we can conduct the count safely.”
Havlik said the Christmas Bird Count will also need feeder watchers to supplement the work of counters in the field.
“Documenting the birds seen at your feeders on that Saturday would be a wonderful contribution to the count,” Havlik said. “People often observe birds that are missed in the field.”
If are spending the holidays at home this year and are looking for a fun and meaningful project, e-mail mike.havlik@dallscountyiowa.gov to sign up for the Dallas County Christmas Bird Count.
Here is my count from my chair. I have 3 Blue Jay’s and 2 Cardinals that hang out in my yard eating bugs out of a rotting stump. Plus the usual rural birds that are not as colorful so nobody cares to count them but are nice to watch as well. We also have several pheasant flocks but they are hiding (and laughing at all the hunters and their dogs that have been unsuccessful so far trying to find them).