The Christmas Bird Count is one of the biggest citizen science projects in the country and it invites members of the public to join a birding group, also known as a circle, between December 14 and January 5.
On December 17, a group of committed birders took part in one of 35 bird counts that were happening in Boulder County.
Many in the group had been out since dawn, including Harold Eyster who has been birding since he was a child, about twenty years.
"We started this morning before sunrise at 6.15 and so we were looking for, listening for owls and things like that, so we heard a great horned owl," said Eyster.
"And then we were watching a lot of ducks fly over early in the morning and then looking for some other birds that you often see in the early morning like Virginia rail and marsh wren, which are a species that are common, like little marsh wrens are not very common in the winter here. But if you get up early you can often find them calling."
At a park in south Boulder, the group spots a flock of geese. Eyster says many people mistake this particular species for Canada geese, but they are in fact cackling geese.
"And these cackling and Canada geese were thought to be the same species until about 20 years ago. And still, if you ask most people, 'oh, what are those?' they might think they're Canada geese, but they're actually a totally different species, and much, much smaller," he said.
This particular birding group is led by Ted Floyd, who has been birding since he was a child.
"Birds are... they're real, they're out there, they're sort of what connect us with sort of what I think we're really supposed to be all about," he said.
"And there are birds everywhere on earth. And you can find birds absolutely everywhere. You can find bird lovers everywhere. So I just think that the universality of birds, the availability, the accessibility of birds. And like, oh my gosh, there are actually birds out here. And most of them are really, really cool and really, really beautiful. So, yeah, just that connecting with the world around us I think is probably ultimately what sort of stirs and keep so many of us going."
Harold Eyster says the data collected during the Christmas Bird Count is providing researchers with important information about bird populations.
"There is a paper that came out a couple of years ago by Rosenberg, and they use data, including from the Christmas Bird Count, as well as a bunch of other counts that take place in North America to estimate that there's been this 30 percent decline in bird abundances over the last 50 years," he said.
"These data sets, and the birds we're counting now, are data that go into big studies like that to try to estimate how birds are changing. and to try to understand those trends so that we can try and help prevent them."
After counting more than 400 cackling geese, the group moves to higher ground, where more birds are spotted, including a dark-eyed junco (gray-headed) and a Woodhouse's scrub-jay.
Owen Robertson and Kieran Schnitzspahn are two of the youngest birders in the group.
The two high school juniors have been birding for about ten years, and connected over a shared love of birding during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I got into it from finding a field guide to birds and just kind of realizing that all these amazing birds are out there," said Robertson.
Birding also offers a welcome respite from the pressures of being a teenager.
"It's really like my way of decompressing and being able to connect with the world in a way that's deeper and it's also just a way of being able to disconnect my brain from the stressors," said Schnitzspahn.
While the participants in this particular group are seasoned birders, Ted Floyd says beginners are also welcome.
"We would totally welcome a rank beginner. In fact, most years we do have such a person," he said.
"I would encourage anybody who's just getting into birding to find a group. There are a lot of bird watchers, a lot of bird clubs, and they're kind of quirky and weird, but they're really friendly and welcoming as well. And I can't think of a better way to really get into birding and learn, you know, sort of take it to the next level than to find real birders and go birding in real life with real birders."
The Audubon Christmas Bird Count wraps up on January 5.
This story was shared via Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of public media stations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico including KSJD.