Rare Birds are highly likely to be spotted during the count. When that happens, they have to be fully documented on a “rare bird form.” The State of Texas compiler determines if the rare bird documentation meets the criteria to be included in the count.

Once a rare bird has appeared on at least three consecutive CBC counts in an area, it no longer requires documentation.

In the past 10 years the Clay-colored Thrush, Gray Hawk and the Groove-billed Ani have reached this status in the Harlingen Circle. 

That’s a big deal!

The first Audubon CBC was in 1901. There’s great information at the link below about the history, annual summaries and the hundreds of studies by scientists around the world who have put CBC data to use — but look at it later!  https://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count

Here’s how it happens at the local level — in the Rio Grande Valley — with hundreds of volunteers.

Norma Friedrich was kind enough to answer my questions. Norma is the current past president of the Arroyo Colorado Audubon Society, a position she held for 10 years.

There are nine Rio Grande Valley areas that officially join the annual count, and two others that comprise the *surrounding area:

• Coastal Tip of Texas – Count completed December 18, 2019
• Santa Ana — (Alamo, San Juan, Hidalgo, Pharr & much of McAllen) —  Saturday, December 21, 2019 — Mary Beth Albrechtsen, 720-470-2960
• Falcon – Sunday, December 22, 2019 — pfoster1@stx.rr.com
• Weslaco — Thursday, December 26, 2019 — john.yochum@tpwd.texas.gov
• Laguna Atascosa — Monday, December 30, 2019 — markhconway@hotmail.com
• Anzalduas/Bentsen — Friday, January 3, 2020 — Roy.Rodriguez@tpwd.texas.gov
• Harlingen — Saturday, January 4, 2020 — hgtxcbc@gmail.com
• La Sal Vieja — TBD — jsbrush10@gmail.com
• Brownsville – compiler needed**
• *Kingsville — Saturday, January 4, 2020 — sinclairjim@yahoo.com
• *El Cielo, Mexico — Monday, December 30, 2019 — stenmead@aol.com

Each area has a compiler who coordinates that area’s count. Each area designates which day that area will hold the count.

All counts must be within the Audubon-sanctioned timeframe. This year the dates are Saturday, December 14, 2019 through Sunday, January 5, 2020.

The Harlingen count will be held January 4, 2020.

Norma is the co-compiler for the Harlingen Area with Mark Conway (bird-bander, high school biology teacher and adjunct instructor at Texas State Technical College). Norma begins her coordination efforts around Thanksgiving each year.

Mark Conway began the Harlingen circle for the Christmas Bird Count in the 1997/1998 season. The first Harlingen count was January 2, 1998

The logistics:

The 17 mile circle for Harlingen is divided into 7 numbered areas. Each numbered area is subdivided into 4 areas A, B, C, D. Area 7 is the hub of the circle and is mostly urban and has a 5th “E” area.

Norma manages the team members and area team leaders. Mark takes the tally lists after the count and compiles the bird counts. He gives Norma the totals and she enters them into the National CBC database along with weather data, number of teams and other special information. Norma also enters collected information from all participating individuals that e-mail data to her. More about that at the end: Feeder Watch.

Team leaders are responsible for recording the bird count, the participants, weather data, times and miles traveled on the official tally sheet, all of which will be turned over to Norma at the end of the day.

The official day runs 24 hours — midnight to midnight. Most teams begin at day break and stay out in the field until their area is covered. Owling is done before daybreak.

On count day, Norma meets the teams at 6:30 a.m. in Harlingen’s Hugh Ramsey Nature Park to hand out packets to the teams that have not already picked theirs up.

Packets include tally sheets with bird names already listed.

It truly does take a team. Generally there are four people on a team. While some are spotting, others are identifying, counting, re-counting and recording on the sheets.

Depending on the size of individual areas, some teams may stay out all day, especially if it has numerous “hot spots,” Norma said. Some may take only half a day and the team may go back and re-cover the area for missed or new species. Ideally, a team has only one quarter of an area, however, some teams have two quarters.

Last year, Norma’s team had Area 2A. They started at 7:20 a.m., took an hour for lunch and then wrapped up at 4:45 p.m. They travelled 59.8 miles up and down the roads in their area.

Currently, 63 team members are signed up with an expected 70 to participate in the Harlingen Circle, making Harlingen one of the best covered circles in the Valley, Norma said.

Novice Birders can join a team

If you’re wondering if novice birders can tag along with the team, Norma says, absolutely! “They are encouraged to join. The extra eyes are always a help at finding birds and the more experienced team birders can ID the birds seen.” — Not to mention what an amazing learning experience for those wanting to learn bird identification!

Here’s something really cool, too. If you have a lot of birds on your property, and your property is inside the circle, but you can’t identify the birds, you can get in touch with Norma — anytime, right up to the day of the count — to invite a team to visit your property on count day.

E-mail Norma Friedrich at hgtxcbc@gmail.com 

Feeder Watch

Not everyone can spend a whole day counting birds — but a few minutes watching your own yard, or feeder, can greatly enhance the quality of the count if your feeder is within a count circle!

Birds coming to feeders are not totaled over the entire day — only the high number of individuals of any species seen at one time would do it.

If you want to participate in the Harlingen Feeder Watch, please contact Norma or Mark Conway and they will send you the short instructions and a tally sheet with the list of birds. If your yard includes water birds, be sure to mention it and get a more comprehensive list of birds.

If you reside in other than the Harlingen Circle, and would like to do Feeder Watch, contact the appropriate circle compiler from the list at the top of this post.

** As of this publication date, the link below reflects that a compiler is needed for the Brownsville Circle. If I get updated information, I will add it to this post.

https://houstonaudubon.org/birding/christmas-bird-counts/lower-rio-grande-valley.html

According to the website, “There are 8 sections within the Brownsville CBC, which includes hotspots like Resaca de la Palma SP, Fish Hatchery Road, Palo Alto NHS, Padre Island Blvd., TNC Southmost Preserve, Sabal Palm Audubon Grove, UTB Campus, Downtown Brownsville, and much more!”