Christmas Bird Count

Sunday, December 14, 2025

The time for Allegheny Plateau Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count is fast approaching. Our 15 mile circle centered just NW of Stoystown includes several larger lakes, many ponds and wetlands, forests, thickets, fields and reclaimed strip mines. Many varied bird species can be encountered in early winter in these areas and all habitats are important as birds have so many varied requirements for food and cover. Our circle is broken down into 8 sections led by experienced leaders. We are always looking for new volunteers to help cover the many miles of roads and trails!

We usually put new folks with one of our leaders and they will have them either ride with them or follow them in the morning. Sometimes people will be sent out to cover some roads or territory in the afternoon to get the best coverage possible. There will be plenty of help for people not as experienced in bird identification. After the count we will gather at a local restaurant to warm up, share our experiences of the day and compile our data.

This is always a fun day and it is very satisfying knowing we are compiling information that becomes part of a gigantic data base started in 1900 that helps track bird populations over time.

If you are interested in participating you can contact Jeff Payne at paynemt@gmail.com to be assigned to a leader.

The charts below are lower resolution of the buttons above.