Novices, experts welcome at South Butler Christmas Bird Count
Those who are mildly interested in birds, experts in all things avian and everyone in between are invited to participate in the 2022 South Butler Christmas Bird Count, if they live within 15 miles of Callery.
Chris Kubiak, director of education at the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, said novices will be teamed up with experts at 8 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 1 at Succop Nature Park, 185 Airport Road in Penn Township.
Teams will traverse the nature park to record the number of each species of birds they view.
Others within a 15-mile radius of Callery can count birds and record the species they see on their properties or that visit their feeders.
Kubiak said while the Audubon Society bird count has been in existence since 1900, the South Butler Christmas Bird Count began in 2012.
He said an average of 75 people participate each year, whether at the nature park or at their homes.
The purpose of the bird count, Kubiak said, is to survey the bird species that call the area home during the winter months.
The count gives scientists are real-time understanding of species that are stable, decreasing or increasing in number in the winter.
“It sharpens our conservation tool a little bit to know where they stand,” Kubiak said of winter bird numbers.
Those participating by watching their feeders have until Jan. 5 to spend a few hours watching out the window.
Those counters mark down how long they observed the feeders, the total number of birds that visited, how many of each species they see.
Kubiak said counters don’t have to worry about whether the birds they see are ones that already visited the feeder, as Audubon experts account for possible returning birds in their totals.
“And if a bird appears that you can’t identify, that’s OK,” Kubiak said.
The most common bird in each year’s count, he said, is the European starling, an invasive species that is not only an agricultural pest, but damages native species like bluebirds and woodpeckers.
Second, many would be surprised to learn, is the robin.
“It’s a myth that they return in the spring,” Kubiak said.
Tied for third place are crows and blue jays.
Kubiak encourages everyone in the South Butler area to come to Succop Nature Park on Jan. 1 and join in the fun of counting birds.
“If you have no experience with birds, don’t feel intimidated,” Kubiak said. “That’s why we put you in the field with an expert. Some people (who participate in the bird count) were novices at one point, and now they’re group leaders.”
The South Butler Christmas Bird Count circle stretches from the intersection of the Thorn Run and Connoquenessing creeks in Penn Township to Zelienople, Cranberry Township and a small part of northern Allegheny County.
Glade Run Lake is the eastern boundary of the circle.
More information on the South Butler Christmas Bird Count is available at www.audubon.org/conservation/join-christmas-bird-count.
