Date: 1/1/26 8:33 am From: Paul Lehman via groups.io <lehman.paul...> Subject: [sbcobirding] date choice for CBC
When I moved to Santa Barbara as a freshman in 1974, the Santa Barbara CBC was, and had been for quite some time, held the first weekend of count period in mid-December. After just a couple years or so it was moved to the last weekend, in very early January. This was done in part so that there would be a lot more time for winter stakeouts to be found, which was done! Also, a bit more rain will have likely fallen so there were better seasonal wetlands available such as at Goleta Slough. And there often was more eucalyptus blooming going on later rather than earlier. I think that only a very few rarities move on in the interim and thus are missed on the later dates for that reason. A very large percent present in mid-Dec are still present in early Jan. And the very few that might depart are more than made up for by the additional numbers of rarity stakeouts that are found during that extra 2+ weeks of holiday searching. As others have said, other important factors include avoiding the immediate holiday dates, primarily the days right around Christmas. Avoiding date conflicts with the dates of other CBCs in the three-county area may or may not have much affect. And of course, just the luck of the particular single day (due to weather or general bird activity levels) can play a large role.
