I first learned about the Christmas Bird Count when I was in seventh grade, while attending my first ever meeting of the Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter. The members of the club attended a monthly meeting in the auditorium at Oak Grove Junior High, where I had begun my junior high career a few weeks earlier.
Everyone in the place seemed ancient to my 12-year-old eyes, but I must have looked even stranger to them. They obviously saw young blood, and after ascertaining that, no, I was not lost, they proceeded to make me exceedingly welcome. By the time I left about an hour and a half later, I had multiple invitations for a variety of birding adventures, some that included overnight travel. This, of course, was before anyone worried about “grooming” of young people, not that there was ever a hint of that from any of these fine folks. This was also before birding was cool, so they were going to make sure my budding interest would be tapped to its full potential. They weren’t going to let me slip through their fingers.
It was late fall by this time, not exactly prime time for birding, but the Christmas Bird Count was coming up, so I was instantly recruited, and with help from an experienced birder, one of the younger guys in the club named Bob, we took part in the count, which was held right around New Years. We covered the Nine Mile Creek valley starting at my house and going down to the river bottoms.
It was a great place to bird, and we usually did well on our Christmas counts, since our territory offered up some of the best bird habitat in Bloomington. There was a subtle competition to it all, which offered a little extra motivation. We often picked up a pileated woodpecker or two, which were hard to find in Bloomington, outside the river bottoms. And we would usually find cardinals and red-bellied woodpeckers, both of which were only starting to become regulars in the Twin Cities back then. If the early winter had been mild, and there was still a little open water on the river, we might add a few bluebills, or as we called them, greater or lesser scaup.
It was usually cold on our counts so my mother would make us hot chocolate and peanut butter toast when we’d get back, which was always a nice way to end our modest little adventure.
Bob and I did the count together for several years until I headed off to college and drifted away (now regretfully) from my MRVAC friends, most of whom undoubtedly died many years ago.
Over the years, I took part in the Aurora bird count a couple times when my friend Chuck Neil was the compiler.
But then life got busier (running a newspaper and other such nonsense), and Jodi and I started traveling more between Christmas and New Years, when we had time off from the paper.
I got back into counting several years ago, and now a friend and I cover a portion of the Cook count circle, which is close to the house.
If it’s something you’ve ever considered, I would encourage you to reach out to any of our local count coordinators. You don’t need to be a bird expert by any means. Most likely you’d be paired up with another experienced counter, so you could chalk it all up a great learning experience. All of our area counts, with the exception of the Sax-Zim Bog count, are open to new participants. I would certainly encourage young people to get involved. Just as I experienced as a seventh grader who wandered into a MRVAC meeting half a century ago, experienced birders are generally eager to mentor the next generation.
And there is a serious tradition around the Christmas Bird Count, which is now in its 126th year and includes over 2,600 count circles worldwide. It isn’t just fun… the massive participation in the event each year, combined with its very long period of record, has made the count an increasingly important data set documenting changes in bird populations over time. It’s a classic example of citizen science. So, dig out that old pair of binoculars and join a count near you.

Local Christmas bird counts

 ELY—Saturday, Dec. 27, with wrap-up session at Grand Ely Lodge at 4 p.m. Contact Bill Tefft at 218-235-8078 or efnbill@gmail.com to register.

COOK— Saturday, Dec. 27, with a potluck wrap-up supper. Contact Julie Grahn at 218-666-2450 or jg.grahn@gmail.com to register.

AURORA— Tuesday, Dec. 30. Contact Clinton Dexter-Nienhaus at xanthomn@gmail.com to register.

ISABELLA—Saturday, Jan. 3 with wrap-up dinner at the Isabella Community Center at dark. Contact Steve Wilson at 218-323-7633 or clevergrayjay@gmail.com by Dec. 28 to register.

VIRGINIA—Tuesday, Dec. 16. Contact Tom Rusch at Tomrusch12@gmail.com for more information or to register.