Grab those binoculars and put on some sturdy shoes. The V.I. Audubon Society needs volunteers for its annual Christmas Bird Count. It will be held starting at 7 a.m. Dec. 19 at various locations around St. John. On St. Croix, a group of residents will hold a similar event throughout the same day.
“It’s a nice day of fresh air and exercise,” Bird Count coordinator Laurel Brannick said.
You might also get a bit damp since the fall’s rains flooded many of the island’s trails and other areas, Brannick said. Most haven’t dried up.
It helps if you’re familiar with birds, but if not, attending a weekly Friday bird walk sponsored by V.I. National Park on St. John is a good way to learn more before the Christmas Bird Count, Brannick said. It begins at 7:30 a.m. at Francis Bay with Brannick, who is the park’s education specialist, leading the way.
Many stalwart birders are now too old to traipse around in the bushes looking for birds, Brannick said. She said the program needs “young blood” to keep it going.
Last year, 34 people spotted 1,717 birds from 54 species during St. John’s count. The gray kingbird was seen most often with the number reaching 496 birds.
St. Croix is divided into two sections. According to the Audubon Society’s website, 11 people on the East End spotted 50 species. The bird total was 1,506, with the white-cheeked pin tail duck the most numerous. The count was 236 birds.
On the rest of St. Croix, 27 people located 71 species totaling 2,614 birds. The gray kingbird was the most numerous with 514 individual birds counted.
In 2009, a total of 60,753 people participated in 2,160 Christmas Bird Count locations across the Americas.
The Christmas Bird Count serves as an environmental indicator.
“It will be interesting to see the effects after the flooding,” St. Croix organizer Jen Valiulis said.
She said that after Hurricane Omar hit two years ago, the number of birds counted during the Christmas Bird Count was lower than the previous year’s count.
The Christmas Bird Count is a way to look at large trends and changes in bird populations, Valiulis said.
She said that it helps show if invasive bird species are in the area and how they are spreading across the island.
This year’s Christmas Bird Count is the 111th one organized by the Audubon Society. It runs from Dec. 14 through Jan. 5 each year with individual chapters picking a day to count.
The event has its roots in an annual bird hunt. In 1900 conservationists changed the focus to an annual Christmas Bird Count. That tradition continues.
“The information gathered by its army of dedicated volunteers leads directly to solutions. At a time when people wonder if individual actions can make a difference, we know that our volunteers enable scientists to learn about the impacts of environmental threats like climate change and habitat loss. That’s good news not just for birds but for all of us,” national Audubon President David Yarnold said in a press release.
For more on the Audubon Society, visit www.audubon.com.
There is no Christmas Bird Count on St. Thomas.
To sign up to count birds on St. John, call Brannick at 776-6201, extension 257. On St. Croix, reach Valiulis at 514-7578.
