Re: [SBB] San Jose Christmas Bird Count

[Bill Bousman <[[email protected]]>]

At 09:08 PM 12/24/2006, Kirsten  Holmquist wrote:


>Finally, I was asked at the countdown dinner about how this data is 
>used.  Most obviously, it is used by the national organization to 
>track trends in populations.  I encourage those interested to check 
>out the national count website at 
><http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/>http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/. 
>They have articles there regarding some of the things they've 
>learned, like the collapse of the Bewick's Wren population in the 
>east.  They also have search facilities so that you can do your own 
>investigations.  The annual publication also contains articles of 
>this nature.  This year's article regarding the expansion of the 
>Hooded Merganser population, I found particularly interesting.  Some 
>may remember several years ago that one of the publication's 
>articles concerned the CDC's interest in the count data.  They were 
>looking at trends in corvid populations because corvids are 
>susceptible to the West Nile Virus.  They wanted to know about any 
>population collapses in order to track the spread of the 
>disease.  Closer to home, I report to many agencies regarding the 
>birds found on their property.  In particular, I report to agencies 
>like the Don Edward's Bay National Wildlife Refuge, a place that got 
>dramatically bigger in the last few years with the transfer of 
>ownership of the former Cargill Salt Ponds.  Some ponds went to the 
>Santa Clara Valley Water District and the City of San Jose and I 
>report to them as well.  Restoration efforts are underway.  The CBC 
>data is being used as one piece of information, along with other 
>on-going census projects, that helps establish a baseline for bird 
>populations and how they are responding to the restoration changes.
>

Folks:

In addition to the resources Kirsten mentioned, I prepared two pdf 
files a few years back that (1) discuss how the data are used, 
including a few examples and an extensive bibliography; and (2) a 
history of our local counts.  These files area accessible at the 
Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society site on the Christmas Bird Count 
page <http://www.scvas.org/index.php?page=text&id=counts>.  The CBC 
data are a remarkable resource, largely because of the length of time 
they cover (multigenerational).  What is not written down is forgotten.

Bill Bousman
Santa Clara County records compiler

P.S.: Ann, you need to suggest updates for the CBC page as the 
Calero-Morgan Hill CBC is not mentioned. 



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