Birding Counts in Northwest US

Over recent years Oregon birdwatching groups and local chapters of the National Audubon Society have been keeping keen watch over bird hatcheries and habitats throughout the State, and compiling and sharing important data with other environmental organizations in a joint effort to better understand and protect endangered species in the Pacific Northwest. Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the Audubon Christmas bird count, an annual event that relies heavily on volunteers in all 50 states and most of the Northern Hemisphere wherein birds of every species are counted and recorded during the period between December 17 and January 3.

Results from such bird counts do vitally assess the overall status, population and health of continental birds as well as the general
condition of the environment. And while at present count, a number of species are off the endangered list, a great many of our fine feathered friends still face extinction--especially rare species in the State of Oregon and the greater Pacific Northwest.

First held in 1900, the Christmas bird count was established by the
Audubon Society's renowned ornithologist Frank Chapman who began the annual event to protest hunters who held "side hunt" contests in which winning participants were rewarded for shooting the greatest number and diverse varieties of birds.

Once a common practice in the United States and Canada, both side hunts and general bird hunting have been outlawed throughout most of North America, and violators are met with steep fines and sometimes even sizable prison terms. Still, in some remote areas the practice persists, and dwindling bird populations are a testament to the continual slaughtering of birds and other wildlife--all for the sake of sport and recreation.