Valley residents, Winter Texans, visitors, birders, and those just getting interested in birding are invited to join a team in the count areas for the annual Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count.

The CBC is a one-day event per area within established count circles. This year’s count will be held from December 14 through January 5, 2024. Local counts are listed below with contact information for those interested in joining a team.

December 15, Coastal Tip, naturalist@spibirding.com
December 16, Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, swmurray@outlook.com
December 26, Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, txlacbc@flanwr.org
December 29, Anzalduas-Bentsen, roy.rodriguez@tpwd.texas.gov
December 30, Harlingen, hgtxcbc@gmail.com
December 31, 2023, Falcon Dam and State Park, idratherbebirding@gmail.com
January 1, Weslaco, john.yochum@tpwd.texas.gov
January 3, 2023, Brownsville, karl.berg@utrgv.edu
The Coastal Tip area encompasses Laguna Vista, Laguna Heights, Port Isabel, South Padre Island and south to the Rio Grande River.

McAllen, Hidalgo, Sharyland, Pharr, San Juan and Alamo are within the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge Circle.

Individuals can count birds in their own yard if it is within one of the designated areas. Contact a team to find if your yard is within a designated area. A list of birds and information will be sent upon request. If you have a yard full of birds in a count area, invite a team; they may be able to visit on count day.

For a quick check to see the area of a count, go to the map at the following site and expand and drag the map to bring up the area within the specific circle. https://audubon.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=ac275eeb01434cedb1c5dcd0fd3fc7b4

Alternately, go to this link and click on the highlighted link for the map view: https://www.audubon.org/conservation/join-christmas-bird-count
Novice birdwatchers are encouraged to join a team. Extra eyes help spot birds for the experienced birders to identify; the more novice birders get valuable experience in bird identification and habits.

In its 124th year, the bird count tradition dates to when officers in the then newly established Audubon Society proposed to take a census of birds rather than hunt them for sport. Globally, the Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count includes destinations and countries from as far north as the Artic Bay, east from St. Jon’s and Ferryland in Newfoundland, west to Southern Guam, and from the northern most area of Alaska, south through Canada, the U.S., Mexico, South America and down to Drake Passage in the South Atlantic Ocean.

The annual count is a citizen science survey where volunteer bird watchers provide the census data. The event is conducted by the National Audubon Society, an environmental organization devoted to the conservation of birds.

For more information visit https://www.audubon.org/conservation/join-christmas-bird-count