by Delaney Hankins – Data Instruments and Communication Intern
On Christmas Day, the yr 1900, 27 birders from Toronto, Ontario to Pacific Grove, California participated in Audubon’s first Christmas Chook Rely (CBC), a brand new conservation custom that changed the vacation observe of aggressive chicken searching. Greater than a century later, the CBC has grown into one of many world’s longest-running group science tasks, strengthening connections between individuals, nature, and native conservation efforts.
For 126 years, tens of 1000’s of volunteers have contributed to this outstanding initiative throughout the Western Hemisphere. This yr, the circle got here again to me, providing the possibility to expertise my very first CBC.
As an Audubon Texas intern, I signed up hoping to assist a mission greater than myself. CBC information helps Audubon and its companions monitor chicken populations, determine conservation wants, inform coverage choices, and information habitat investments. On the similar time, native communities use CBC occasions to spotlight pure property and promote ecotourism.
On December 27, 2025, I joined the Lewisville Circle Christmas Chook Rely on the Lewisville Lake Environmental Studying Space (LLELA) a, 2,600 acre protect in Lewisville, Texas, residence to Blackland Prairie, Japanese Cross Timbers, wetlands, and hardwood forests. I visited LLELA on faculty discipline journeys as a child. Again then, I seen just a few gulls from the lake, the occasional squirrel, or a tadpole in a pond. That was the complete extent of my consciousness.
When my alarm rang at 5:00 a.m., I anticipated to assist with an necessary conservation effort, however I additionally assumed the day would really feel acquainted. What I didn’t count on was for the CBC to disclose a wholly new world simply minutes from the place I grew up.
We arrived earlier than dawn; the air was nonetheless cool. As the primary mild appeared, a Brief-eared Owl glided throughout the horizon, its silhouette outlined in opposition to the daybreak. Later, we watched a Belted Kingfisher diving over a pond, an American Kestrel perched excessive in a tree and even glimpsed a Bald Eagle close to its nest, all earlier than lunch. By night, we had recorded 74 species, far past the gulls and squirrels of my childhood recollections.
Seeing so many species in a single day shifted my whole perspective. As an off-the-cuff birder with restricted identification abilities, the CBC inspired me to search for, actually and figuratively. Spending a day deliberately trying to find birds opened my eyes to a vibrant world I had neglected. Now I discover birds in every single place. Who knew a Cooper’s Hawk might seem on a routine grocery run?
Attending my first CBC turned way more than an internship process. It reconnected me with a spot I assumed I already understood and jogged my memory how a lot life exists once we decelerate and listen. Conservation isn’t solely occurring in far-off wilderness areas or on documentary screens. It’s occurring right here, within the areas we go each day.
And now that I’ve seen it, I really feel much more dedicated to defending the outside areas all of us take pleasure in!
