Would you like to be a Citizen Scientist? Do you want to know more about local birds? You can do both by joining the Newton Christmas Bird Count on Sunday, December 20th! Groups of birders head out in the morning to open space areas of Newton to count birds on that date and report back the numbers for each species seen. Birding experience is not required since you will be part of a small group with an experienced leader.
Birders will meet at 7 am at 1 Raeburn Terrace, Newton Highlands, divide into groups and then disperse to areas around the city to count birds. For the very early birders who want to count owls, a group may be heading out at 5 am if it’s not raining or snowing. Later that day, the Newton count data from the groups is combined with data from other areas within the Greater Boston count circle.
Some of the areas covered by the groups include: Newton South, Kennard, Saw Mill, Houghton Gardens, Hammond Pond and Webster Woods Newton Cemetery, City Hall, Edmands Park, Bullough’s Pond, Cold Spring, Mason Rice / Newton Centre, Crystal Lake, Newton Commonwealth Golf Course, Chandler Pond, Charles River (from Watertown to Waltham), Calvary Swamp, and the Cheesecake Brook area.
The National Audubon Society organizes the overall worldwide count, which is described on their website: https://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count The Newton count is part of the Greater Boston count circle, one of very many across the country! Expert birder, Peter Alden, wrote an article, “How a Christmas Bird Count Works”, about what happens in a count: https://www.sparkbirding.com/post/inside-a-christmas-bird-count. The Newton count is part of the Greater Boston count circle, one of very many across the country!
If you are interested in joining the count this year, you can email organizer Liane Hartnett (lianehartnett26@gmail.com). Then you can be alerted to any changes due to the weather and assigned to one of the count groups.
The most common question people tend to ask is “how do you know that you don’t count the same bird twice?” Well, you can’t know for certain, but we try our best! It’s notable that we often do see four calling birds or even seven swans a swimming, but not a partridge in a pear tree!