Peoria Audubon Society is a local affiliate of both:

National Audubon Society &  Illinois Audubon Society

Bird Counts & More

Peoria Audubon Society participates in three bird counts each year and a variety of related monitoring activities:

• 2007/2008 Christmas Bird Counts
  Peoria Audubon sponsors three count circles in the Peoria area, paying all participant fees. Contacts for the individual counts are:

  • Peoria - Dec. 20, 2008
     

  • Chautauqua - Dec. 27, 2008
    Dick Bjorklund (309-968-6502)

  • Chillicothe - Jan. 5, 2008
    Tracy Fox (309-579-3264)

  2007 Count Results:

  Nationwide Christmas Bird Count results are also available through BirdSource, a joint project of the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

  Peoria 2007-08 (PDF)

  Chautauqua 2007-08 (PDF)

  Chillicothe 1992-2008 summary (PDF)

  Chillicothe 2008 Detail + 1992-2008 summary (PDF)

   

  Highlights: Peoria CBC on Dec. 15, 2007:

  • Cloudy, snowy all day, no wind, 24-29 degrees with 20 participants, and 3 feeder watchers.

  • Saw 75 species, which is high for the Peoria area.

  • Special observations: several good sightings, such as 2 White Pelicans, 4 Ruddy Ducks,1 Peregrine Falcon,, 4 Lapland Longspurs, and 1 Rusty Blackbird.

  • Also, 31 Bald eagles during a Christmas count in Peoria is a high.

  • Sighting of all 7 woodpecker species is not common, as are the 45 Great Blue Herons sighted. Lake

  Highlights: Chautauqua count on Dec. 22, 2007:

  • Warm weather through the day. 16 participants.

  • Saw 87 species of birds, which is rather low for this rich birding area.

  • Notable species: a White Pelican, 1 Common Loon, a high count of 99 Tundra Swans,

  • All three swan species were seen and 35 Eurasian Collared Doves,

  Highlights: Chillicothe count on Jan. 5, 2008:

  • Warm weather and the presence of hunters made access to some riverfront areas difficult. Nonetheless counters found 13 species of swans, ducks and geese including a flyover Trumpeter Swan near the Marshall/Woodford County line, a Canvasback south of Chillicothe, and groups of 41 Lesser Scaup and 17 Hooded Mergansers near Spring Bay.

  • Raptor numbers seemed healthy with 54 Bald Eagles (35 adult and 19 immature), high counts for both Red-tailed and Rough-legged Hawks and an unusual Red-shouldered Hawk in Woodford County.

  • Other notable sightings included a record high of 15 Brown Creepers (most from the bottomlands north of Chillicothe), a pair of Fox Sparrows and a group of 25 Snow Buntings near Lacon. High counts were also recorded for Hairy and Pileated Woodpeckers.

  • Areas of concern are the continued decline in Red-headed Woodpeckers and the complete absence of game birds (Ring-necked Pheasant, Wild Turkey and Northern Bobwhite). Fifteen Wild Turkeys were found during a scouting expedition near Spring Bay but none were actually seen on the day of the count. Additional misses included Snow Goose, Wood Duck, American Coot, Eastern Screech Owl, Winter Wren, Yellow-rumped Warbler and White-crowned Sparrow.

  • Thanks to all 20 participants for another outstanding count -- 67 species and 16,631 individual birds. Next year's count is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, January 3, 2009.

• Eagle Count -- January 26, 2008
  As part of the Eagle Nature Foundation Midwinter Eagle Count on the Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries, Peoria Audubon counts the eagles between Henry and Havana on the Illinois River. 

  Photo Gallery from 2007 Peoria Eagle Count

• Spring Bird Counts -- May 10, 2008
  Peoria Audubon members participate in Spring Bird Counts for local counties near the time of peak spring migration.  Please volunteer your time to help out with this important benchmark of Illinois birdlife. Contacts for the individual county counts are:

  Fulton -- Helen Gasdorf (309-676-3384)
  Mason -- Dick Bjorklund (309-968-6502)
  Peoria -- Mike Miller (309-686-3360)
  Tazewell -- Thad Edmonds (309) 243-1854
  Woodford -- Matt Winks (309) 287-8114

According to the National Audubon Society:

The 108th Annual Christmas Bird Count

Across Audubon's 108th Christmas Bird Count (CBC) will take place from December 14, 2007 to January 5, 2008. The longest-running wildlife census in the world, the count has become an annual tradition for citizen science volunteers in communities throughout the Americas. The data they collect enables Audubon and other conservation partners to assess the status of birds and habitats vital to feathered flyers across the Western Hemisphere.

This year, CBC data helped reveal population declines among many beloved birds. Issued in June, Audubon's Common Birds in Decline analysis generated stunning headlines throughout the US, and focused new attention on habitat loss, climate change and other threats facing familiar birds - and offered ways that people can help keep these common birds common. CBC data are also instrumental to development of the WatchList, a collaboration of Audubon and the American Bird Conservancy that identifies less common birds whose small and declining population sizes and limited ranges put them at imminent threat of extinction.

"Each of the citizen scientists who braves snow, ice, wind, or rain to take part in the Christmas Bird Count is making an enormous contribution to conservation," said Geoff LeBaron, National Audubon's Christmas Bird Count Director. "Counting is the first step in learning how environmental threats are affecting our birds – and in helping to protect them."

Christmas Bird Count Circles in the Western Hemisphere

New analysis of Christmas Bird Count data will focus on how populations or ranges may be changing due to the effects of global climate change. The proverbial "canaries in the coal mine," birds provide an early warning indicator of the health of the global climate we all share.

The CBC began over a century ago when 27 conservationists in 25 localities, led by scientist and writer Frank Chapman, changed the course of ornithological history. On Christmas Day in 1900, the small group posed an alternative to the "side hunt," a Christmas day activity in which teams competed to see who could shoot the most birds and small mammals. Instead, Chapman proposed that they identify, count, and record all the birds they saw, founding what is now considered to be the world's most significant citizen-based conservation effort – and a more than century-old institution.

During last year's count, nearly 70 million birds were counted by nearly 58,000 volunteers, a record level of participation – with counts taking place in all 50 states, every Canadian province, parts of Central and South America, Bermuda, the West Indies, and Pacific Islands.

For More Information on the Nationwide Christmas Bird Count

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