Ah, that's true about the reservoirs being frozen.
Your fantasy idea would be a fascinating area!
Thinking about the difficulties in participation:
1. A lot of the counts are scheduled on the same few weekend dates, and
people are more likely than not to choose their local one due to proximity
and relationships.
2. Counts scheduled during the week lose most non-retired persons from
participation.
3. Counts tend to avoid dates closest to Christmas thinking people would
have holiday commitments competing for availability.
4. It isn't super easy to travel in winter to remote counts without many
options for lodging and early starts.
5. It can be a little hard for an average birder to know what counts are
desiring new volunteers and how to join them unless they know the
coordinator or see a message from the coordinator in COBIRDS or other
commonly used forums. A lot of them kind of feel mostly closed to outside
volunteers, and I don't know how accurate that is.
A few ideas if people really want to aim to improve participation that
could be considered:
1. More communication and coordination amongst coordinators statewide to
develop a statewide plan of when counts are scheduled to maximize volunteer
availability at different counts. I do think coordinators try to honor
tradition and avoid conflict, but I don't think coordinators currently have
the ability to talk to each other as a whole group in a planning capacity?
2. I wonder if Audubon would ever consider expanding the count window to
maybe add an additional weekend in January? Since people have lots of
commitments in the holiday season maybe that would open some availability
without hurting the scientific objectives?
3. More tools for coordinators to easily invite and onboard volunteers
from other communities in the state. I don't know exactly what this would
look like and I do think Audubon has been making some efforts and people
like Brandon obviously help try to get the word out.
4. One issue with out of area volunteers is that they may be unfamiliar
with the area and less familiar with some birds there. I wonder if a system
developed for non locals to easily plug in such as a map of suggested route
and stops for each sector would help.
5. While we have increased interest in birding, the number and capacity of
individuals to coordinate, lead sectors, and confidently ID, count, and use
reporting tools is a bottleneck point. A lot of birders are not well
connected into the state birding communities, and may not even identify as
birders or know other birders; and birding organizations in the state that
have programs to train and build capacity are very few in number and
location. There are also likely issues of people who could step up not
believing they are ready, not being identified and asked, etc.
While the number of birders has grown, this has not happened in an
institutional framework; a great many birders do not even know there are
Christmas Bird Counts that they could be part of, let alone any other
events like field trips, classes, or conventions.
Maybe some kind of community awareness and count training for public
consumption could help grow interest and capacity.
Enthusiastic beginners are great, but require someone to guide and manage
them, and that can sometimes be harder than just running with the overly
lean but seasoned crew.
The CBCs are useful scientific endeavors, but also tools of citizen
engagement. Maybe we could be engaging more citizens to some extent.
Diana Beatty
El Paso County
******
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said
*Gandalf*, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for
them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is
given us.”
On Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 4:53 PM David Suddjian <dsuddjian...> wrote:
> To Brandon's point, it is interesting to consider counts that are
> under-supported by participating birders and those whose participation has
> declined. The number of birders has grown greatly, but it seems that the
> tradition of Christmas count participation has not grown similarly. The CBC
> culture feels different in some ways. I think some impact occurred in
> connection with the Covid-19 shutdown when many counts took a hiatus, and
> substantial growth in birding happened at that same time and in the
> following years.
>
> To Diana's idea for consideration, the corners of Colorado all seem
> depauperate in coverage. One fantasy circle for me would be focused on the
> canyonlands of Baca and far eastern Las Animas counties -- but no birders
> live there. Those reservoirs in Park County she mentions -- all great
> birding areas -- are completely frozen in the CBC season and one of the
> state parks is closed for winter.
>
> David Suddjian
> Littleton, CO
>
> On Sun, Dec 21, 2025 at 12:25 PM Brandon <flammowl17...> wrote:
>
>> Since there are over 50+ Christmas Bird Counts in Colorado, and some
>> counts don't get 10 observers on their counts, which they suppose to be
>> (according to National Audubon, every year), I am not sure about starting
>> new Christmas Bird Counts, that don't have a lot of birders, that live in
>> the circle (the new count this year, Broomfield, probably have lots of
>> people, since it is in northern Colorado). I know several of our local
>> counts down here, like Lake Isabel, Spanish Peaks, Rocky Ford, Pueblo, and
>> Westcliffe (which we've discontinued since there aren't any birders close
>> by), don't get enough of helpers (nowadays, they use to get more, back when
>> they started), since there's not a lot of birders in these areas. Please
>> help these rural counts that have few people helping usually, and not try
>> to start new counts in areas that don't have helpers.
>>
>> Brandon Percival
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Dec 21, 2025 at 12:15 PM Diana Beatty <otowi33.33...>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Just for fun discussion:
>>>
>>> Linked below is a map of Christmas Bird Count circles.
>>>
>>> Is there anywhere in Colorado you think should have one that doesn't?
>>> Volunteer capacity and time are certainly factors, but if those weren't
>>> problems, where might we be missing?
>>>
>>> Near me, I thought maybe a circle centered on or around Eleven Mile
>>> State Park could be cool. Maybe it would also have Antero and Spinney
>>> within it.
>>>
>>>
>>> Diana Beatty
>>> El Paso County
>>>
>>>
>>> https://gis.audubon.org/christmasbirdcount/?_gl=1*161wzvj*_gcl_au*MTQzMzU4MzYxMy4xNzY2MzQzODc4*_ga*MjE0MzA1MzQxMy4xNzY2MzQzODc4*_ga_X2XNL2MWTT*czE3NjYzNDM4NzckbzEkZzEkdDE3NjYzNDQyNTIkajYwJGwwJGgw >>>
>>> ******
>>>
>>> “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,”
>>> said *Gandalf*, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is
>>> not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time
>>> that is given us.”
>>>
>>>
>>>
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