Copper River Record  November 15, 2018
By Robin Mayo
The Kenny Lake Christmas Bird Count will be Saturday, December 22nd this year.  This event is a part of the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, which has been collecting data annually for over a century.  Everyone is invited to participate, and no special knowledge is necessary.  One of the benefits of winter birding is there are very few species in residence, so identification is far easier than in the summer months. 
The Kenny Lake count is taken in a 15 mile diameter circle centered on Kenny Lake near mile 8 Edgerton Highway.  You can participate by going out and looking for birds on foot, skiing, snowshoeing, or any other mode of transportation.  Feeder watchers are also needed if you would rather stay inside and enjoy your birds through the window.  As well as the concentrated bird count done on count day, counters are asked to note any other species they see during count week, from Wednesday December 19 through Tuesday December 25th.
If you plan to participate, it is important to contact WISE and let us know where you plan to count, so we don’t overlap and can cover as much of the area as possible.  We will be sending out packets of information to past participants in late November, and information and forms will also be available on the wise website at www.wise-edu.org/christmas-bird-count.html .  You can call the WISE office at 822-3575, or email [email protected]. If you are a beginning birder who would like to team up with an experienced counter, we may be able to help you with that as well.
Why is this important?  The Audubon Christmas Bird Count is one of the longest running citizen science projects in the country, and provides a  baseline of bird populations through the decades.  Scientists use the information to determine the range and habitat of birds, and identify population changes.  This is especially important as we try to understand the impact of global climate instability.
After counting from dawn to dusk on December 22nd, participants are invited to meet at the Kenny Lake Library to compare notes, and enjoy some hot drinks and snacks.  This meeting is not mandatory, it is just a fun way to finish up the day.  WISE will compile the results and return them to Audubon to be included in the national results.

By Robin Mayo
​This December, WISE is taking on a new project, and we’d like to invite everyone to participate.  Ruth McHenry, who has been organizing Kenny Lake’s Christmas Bird Count since time immemorial, has passed the binoculars to WISE.  We will be handling the pre-count coordination, count day festivities, and compiling the numbers and submitting them to Audubon, who organizes this international event now in its 117th year.
The Christmas Bird Count started as an alternative activity to a tradition known as a “Side Hunt,” when teams of hunters would go afield for a day, with the side slaying the biggest pile of feathered and furred quarry declared the winter.  In December 1900, Frank Chapman, an officer in the newly organized Audubon Society, organized a day of birding to help take census of winter birds.  25 different counts were held, in locations from Ontario to California, and the tradition was born.
Today, Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count is one of the largest Citizen Science events in the world.  In 2016, over 2500 local counts were held, with a total of 76,000 observers. In each local count, observers work within a 15 mile diameter circle, and follow protocols to make the data collected relevant and useful to scientists.  The Kenny Lake count circle has its center at the intersection of the Old and New Edgerton Highways.  Other local Christmas Bird Counts are also held in Copper Center and Gakona.
The Christmas Bird Count data is used in a myriad of ways by scientists.  The over a century worth of data is especially important in establishing baselines, and looking for change trends in populations.  It is also a chance for birders to get out in a season that is often overlooked, and earn some bragging rights for numbers of species, and unusual observations.  In last year’s  count, Dave Wellman saw a Yellow-Rumped Warbler, a frequent summer sighting but very unusual in winter.  When unusual birds are sighted, documenting with photographs becomes important.
The Kenny Lake count includes data from field observers who travel by foot, car, ski, and snowshoes throughout the area.  It also gathers data from feeder watchers, and sightings made soon before or after the actual count day, during the “count week.”
Under WISE management Christmas Bird Count will look much the same, but we are hoping to inspire new participants, including classes of school children.  We hope to hold one of our Science Lectures in conjunction with count week, to learn more about the science of Christmas Bird Count.  If you’d like to sign up as a field observer or feeder watcher, please give us a call at 822-3575, or email [email protected].