This year marks the 100th anniversary of the annual Christmas Bird Count in the Rockbridge area.
The 2025 CBC will take place on Dec. 20. As a lead-up to this year’s count, CBC organizer and compiler Dick Rowe will hold a planning session in the Piovano Room at Rockbridge Regional Library on Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. The session is sponsored by the Rockbridge Bird Club and open to all who are interested.
The Audubon Christmas Bird Count is the nation’s longest-running community science bird project.
The first CBC in Virginia took place in 1905 near Alexandria, and the first Lexington count occurred in 1922, taken by a single participant. With the exception of three years in the 1920s and the year 1936, the Lexington CBC has been an annual tradition. Last year’s count involved more than 40 participants.
Rowe will begin the session with a brief history of the Lexington area CBC and share data on some interesting trends. He’ll devote the rest of the program to organizing volunteers for this year’s count, assigning where individual participants will be counting and when, to ensure that all areas of the count circle are covered. Those new to the CBC are welcome to join one of the small groups that count together in the field or they can sign up to count birds at their own feeders.
After confirming assignments, Rowe will designate contacts so that an alert can go out if a rare bird has been spotted. He’ll also review Audubon count protocols, including how to document a rare bird sighting and how to submit data. Most counts will be shared by participants during a potluck tally at Boxerwood at the end of the count day.
