Photo: Anthony Sulpizio
Christmas Bird Count 2020
NOTICE: COVID-19 and the Christmas Bird Count
As you consider participating in a COVID-Safe CBC, please prioritize your safety and the safety of others when making your decision. As this citizen science project has many years of data collection, the surveys focus on long-term trends. Therefore, they will be able to accommodate occasional gaps in data.
Please review and comply with the Government of New Brunswick’s public health guidelines for your area.
Please review this letter to Birds Canada volunteers partaking in 2020 citizen science surveys.
December 1, 2020 — The holidays are fast approaching and so is the Christmas Bird Count!
This year marks the 121st year of counts! The CBC has grown in North America from 27 bird count areas in the early days, to over 2,000 Count Circles (areas measuring 24km in diameter that stay the same from year to year).
Within each Count Circle, a date from mid-December to early January is chosen and volunteers — either at home watching their feeders or out in the field — identify both the species of birds and the number of individuals observed. In recent years, approximately 45 Count Circles in New Brunswick have counted about 130 species and over 100,000 individuals. Not bad for a day out during the darkest and coldest time of the year.
Anyone interested in spending a few hours outdoors over the Christmas season and participating in North America’s longest running citizen science project is encouraged to contact any of the Count Circle coordinators. If you get outdoors with the 25,000 other North Americans who have been doing exactly that for over 100 years, you just might surprise yourself with how many birds call New Brunswick home.
List of 2020/2021 counts for New Brunswick*:
- Jacquet River: December 14 (Contact: doylec40@yahoo.ca)
- Springfield: December 16 (Contact: muffinmanrodger@gmail.com)
- St Andrews: December 19 (Contact: tdean@huntsmanmarine.ca)
- Dalhousie: December 19 (Contact: amleger2@gmail.com)
- Tracadie-Sheila: December 19 (Contact: jolandestp@rogers.com)
- Kouchibouguac N.P.: December 19 (david.mazerolle@canada.ca)
- Saint John: December 20 (Contact: dm@qcca.ca)
- Fredericton: December 20 (Contact: andre.vietinghoff@yahoo.com)
- Shediac: December 20 (Contact: gilles.belliveau@gmail.com)
- Miramichi: December 20 (watterspj3@gmail.com)
- Minto/Chipman: December 27 (emills52@gmail.com)
- Quispamsis-Hampton: January 2 (Contact: jgw@nbnet.nb.ca)
- Caraquet: January 2 (Contact: donegodin@yahoo.com)
*List updated December 16, 2020
Bookmark this page and check back often as we will be updating this list as more counts are announced. You can also check out the Birds Canada interactive count map here. 
