Christmas Bird Count

media release: Madison is home to thousands of bird-lovers, just like you. The annual Christmas Bird Count is one of the best ways to meet other enthusiastic bird-watchers and help collect important data about birds in the Madison area at the same time!

The Christmas Bird Count, held annually throughout North America between mid-December and early-January, works to take a snapshot of which bird species are found where during the winter season. Bird watchers count the number and individuals of species over a 24 hour period, and turn all of those data into National Audubon. This project is important for estimating distributions and populations, and find oddities in nature (e.g., what is that clay-colored sparrow doing in Wisconsin in December?). It is considered to be the longest-running formal citizen science project in the nation, now in it’s 122nd year!

Madison CBC: Dec. 17, 2022

Because Madison is so large and spread out, the count circle is broken down into 23 areas, and each area has a captain to coordinate volunteers and survey areas. We try to match new volunteers with their nearby area, but sometimes those areas are full on volunteers and the closest area that needs volunteers might be a bit of a drive.

Volunteers can either head out to a location assigned by their captain, or tally up birds that come to their feeder. Either way, please let us know you’re interested by scrolling down and completing the form here.

Wisconsin has many Christmas Bird Counts happening, so you can join one or many near you and your favorite birding grounds — see the full list here. You can use the map below to click on the bird icon to find the date and contact information for a count near you.

Counts in the Madison Audubon chapter area include:

Dec. 14: Pardeeville, open to more volunteers, contact: Brian Doverspike, briandoverspike@hotmail.com, 608-697-7599

Dec. 14: Waterloo, open to more volunteers, contact; Karen Etter Hale by Dec. 5, chimneyswift1@icloud.com, 920-245-1395

Dec. 15: Columbus, full on volunteers, coordinated by Mike Wanger

Dec. 17: Richland Center, open to more volunteers, contact: Eric Volden, ericvolden@charter.net, 608-553-2617

Dec. 28: Baraboo, full on volunteers, coordinated by Scott Swengel

Dec. 31: Mount Horeb, open to more volunteers, contact: Kerry Beheler, kerry.beheler@gmail.com

Dec. 31: Poynette, open to more volunteers, contact: Mark Martin and Sue Foote-Martin, goosep@madisonaudubon.org, 608-333-9645

Jan. 1: Cooksville, full on volunteers, coordinated by Quentin Yoerger