Dec 6, 2025 · At the time, many communities marked the holidays with a “Side Hunt”—a competition to shoot as many birds and mammals as possible. Frank Chapman, an early …

The Christmas Bird Count is the longest-running community science initiative in the world. For more than a century, birdwatchers have been coming together during the Christmas-to-New …

How did a continent go from shooting birds every Christmas to counting them? Discover the Audubon Christmas Bird Count – a holiday tradition that has transformed bird science.

Frank Chapman and 26 other conservationists initiated the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) as a way of promoting conservation by counting, rather than hunting, birds on Christmas Day of 1900.

Dec 20, 2024 · This new, more respectful tradition was to count birds during the holidays, instead of hunting them. Across the nation, the first 25 CBC’s were held, spanning coast to coast and …

The twist: counting birds instead of hunting birds for sport, which was a widespread Christmas tradition at the time. On Christmas day, Frank and 26 other birdwatchers counted birds and …

5 days ago · The hunters would gather and split into two sides and go out into the field with rifles and shotguns. The side that had the most feathered and furred animals won. As the 20th …

Dec 9, 2024 · This practice alarmed conservationists like ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, who recognized the toll it took on declining bird populations. On Christmas Day in 1900, Chapman …

Dec 5, 2024 · Instead of hunting birds, Chapman proposed a new tradition—one that celebrated the birds rather than threatened them. Thus, the Christmas Bird Count was born. This event …

Dec 7, 2023 · One major concern fueling the movement was the drastic bird population decline. In response, an Ornithologist, Frank Chapman, started the bird count as an alternative to a …