Annual Birmingham-Area Bird Count Canceled Due To Pandemic
In normal years, it’s a winter tradition: a few dozen bird lovers spread out across the Birmingham area to count birds as part of the National Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count. But leaders with Alabama Audubon have canceled the event this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“As much as I would like for us to do the count, I just know it puts our membership at risk,” said Greg Harber, Alabama Audubon board member and count organizer.
The local tallies go into a national database that tracks bird populations. With the lack of new numbers this year, researchers fear they could miss out on important changes to bird species’ habitat and range. Harber spoke about the annual bird count with WBHM’s Andrew Yeager.
How does the count show habitat fluctuations from year-to-year?
For instance, the evening grosbeak would be found in the northern portion of the United States. They breed up in the boreal forests of Canada. In most years they barely make it into the northern tier of the United States. Well, this year they’re already showing up as far south as Florida and they’ve been sighted here in Alabama in a few places.
That’s the beauty of doing these counts. It gives you a good sense if this is a typical year for them, or are we seeing more. So with the evening grosbeak as an example, when their food resources decline up in the boreal forests, that’s when they’re forced to move south.
We’ve just been through a federal census counting humans. One of the things census watchers said is that there are certain groups or demographics that are hard to count. When it comes to birds, are there certain species that are difficult to count?
Sure. The nocturnal species. If they’re not particularly vocal, they can obviously be difficult to count, primarily the owls. Others that can be a challenge are ones that typically might come to a feeder, but can be difficult to locate in the woods. There are just some species that are shy and retiring in nature so to speak.
What will you miss about not doing the count this year?
The thrill of doing the count and the chance to get together with everyone to swap stories at the compilation. That’s always great fun. If you see an unusual bird, it’s kind of nice just to be able to come in and say, “oh, you won’t believe what I saw.” Then you get to share in the joy of somebody else seeing something unusual.
Birmingham is 3rd worst in the Southeast for ozone pollution, new report says
The American Lung Association's "State of the Air" report shows some metro areas in the Gulf States continue to have poor air quality.
Why haven’t Kansas and Alabama — among other holdouts — expanded access to Medicaid?
Only 10 states have not joined the federal program that expands Medicaid to people who are still in the "coverage gap" for health care
Once praised, settlement to help sickened BP oil spill workers leaves most with nearly nothing
Thousands of ordinary people who helped clean up after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico say they got sick. A court settlement was supposed to help compensate them, but it hasn’t turned out as expected.
Q&A: How harm reduction can help mitigate the opioid crisis
Maia Szalavitz discusses harm reduction's effectiveness against drug addiction, how punitive policies can hurt people who need pain medication and more.
The Gulf States Newsroom is hiring a Community Engagement Producer
The Gulf States Newsroom is seeking a curious, creative and collaborative professional to work with our regional team to build up engaged journalism efforts.
Gambling bills face uncertain future in the Alabama legislature
This year looked to be different for lottery and gambling legislation, which has fallen short for years in the Alabama legislature. But this week, with only a handful of meeting days left, competing House and Senate proposals were sent to a conference committee to work out differences.
