NEW YORK (December 14, 2025) — The Nationwide Audubon Society invitations chicken lovers and neighborhood scientists throughout the Western Hemisphere to take part within the 126th annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count, happening December 14 by January 5. Greater than 2,800 depend circles from Canada to Chile will collect vital information to tell conservation methods and assist defend birds in a quickly altering local weather.
“Audubon’s Christmas Chook Rely permits neighborhood scientists to affix a legacy of greater than twelve a long time of conservation,” stated Dr. Ben Haywood, Audubon’s director of neighborhood science. “Including to such a long-term dataset helps conservation scientists higher perceive the state of the birds and the way we will enhance our efforts to guard them and the locations they want.”
Every depend takes place in a 15-mile-wide circle and is led by a compiler liable for safely organizing volunteers and submitting observations on to Audubon. Inside every circle, contributors tally all birds seen or heard that day — not simply the species but in addition whole numbers to offer a transparent concept of the well being of that individual inhabitants.
When mixed with different surveys just like the Breeding Chook Survey, Audubon’s Christmas Chook Rely helps present an image of how chicken populations have modified over the previous century, a long-term perspective that’s vital for safeguarding birds and their habitat. These information have been cited in additional than 300 peer-reviewed articles, together with a 2019 examine in Science that documented the lack of almost three billion North American birds since 1970.
The depend can also be used to measure how birds are responding to local weather change. A 2022 Audubon study used 90 years of Christmas Chook Rely information to point out how chicken ranges have shifted over time, serving to prioritize conservation efforts in areas which can be vital for birds as we speak and in a climate-altered future. With two-thirds of North American bird species at increasing risk of extinction by the end of this century, the information are extra vital than ever.
The primary depend circles had been situated in 25 areas throughout the US and Canada. This system has since expanded to greater than 2,800 circles throughout the US, Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands. Final yr’s 125th Audubon Christmas Bird Count included 35 species in newly established circles in Peru that had not beforehand been encountered. In the US, contributors additionally noticed “late lingerers” equivalent to Black-and-white Warblers, which usually spend the winter within the tropics, staying in the US as a result of a milder winter.
There isn’t any charge to take part within the Audubon Christmas Chook Rely. To enroll, discover the circle nearest you and register together with your native compiler at www.christmasbirdcount.org. All information should be submitted by the official compiler to be added to the census.
About Audubon
The Nationwide Audubon Society is a number one nonprofit conservation group with 120 years of science-based, community-driven influence, devoted to defending birds and the locations they want, as we speak and tomorrow. Birds are highly effective indicators of our planet’s well being, appearing as sentinels that warn us of environmental change and encourage motion. Audubon works throughout the Western Hemisphere, pushed by the understanding that what is nice for birds is nice for the planet. By way of a collaborative, bipartisan method throughout habitats, borders, and the political spectrum, Audubon drives significant and lasting conservation outcomes. With 800 workers and over 1.9 million supporters, Audubon is a dynamic and ever-growing pressure dedicated to making sure a greater planet for each birds and other people for generations to return. Study extra at www.audubon.org and on Fb, Twitter and Instagram @audubonsociety.
Media Contacts:
Nicolas Gonzalez, nicolas.gonzalez@audubon.org
Non-Media Inquiries: cbcadmin@audubon.org
