South Florida teams ready for Christmas Bird Count
First conducted in 1900 with just 27 volunteers, the Christmas Bird Count has grown into an event involving thousands of people, one of the biggest and most venerable examples of citizen science in the world. Like the backyard astronomers who collect data for professional scientists, the thousands of birders are able through sheer numbers to put more eyes on nature than can the professionals.
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“Scientists use the Christmas Bird Count for all kinds of things,” said Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation for the National Audubon Society. “There are something like 400 scientific studies based on the Christmas Bird Count.”
Here’s more information from Audubon about the annual count.
