This article was published in the 50th volume of the NB Naturalist, in June 2026. Read it in full or find out where to order it here.
NB Naturalist Feature: The Christmas Bird Count, North America’s Longest-Running Citizen Science Project
Written by Don MacPhail
The Christmas Bird Count is North America’s longest-running citizen science project. It started on Christmas Day 1900 and at 9 am on that day, a New Brunswicker, William H. Moore, became Canada’s first Christmas bird counter.
For the next 50 years, “CBCs” in New Brunswick were patchy and infrequent, only a dozen in all. But since 1956, there have been CBCs, sometimes more than 50 in a year, all over the province.
So, what is a Christmas Bird Count? It is a survey of bird life within a 24-kilometre diameter Count Circle. New circles are established from time to time and can be anywhere in the Americas as long as they do not overlap with another circle. Many circles in New Brunswick were established by local nature clubs and are surveyed year after year. Today, the Canadian portion of the program is managed by Birds Canada.
The circles are surveyed on a single day between December 14 and January 5, with the survey date for each circle being established by the volunteer compiler for the area. The compiler also coordinates coverage of the circle among participants so that birds are not double-counted. She or he then compiles the results from each group of participants and inputs the data to the database operated by Birds Canada and Audubon. This process was followed by almost 2700 compilers from 21 countries and territories in 2025.
Individual participants do as William Moore did when he stepped out of his Scotch Lake farmhouse in 1900. They record their time outdoors, the distance they cover and the weather. And they count birds. They count species but also the number of each species.
For about a thousand New Brunswickers, the CBC is part of their annual seasonal activities, a chance to get outdoors with friends and see what birds are around.
Every year there are surprises, but it’s always surprising to me that during the coldest and darkest days of the year we find that more than 100,000 birds from over 100 species are sharing the province with us.
More than 40 of New Brunswick’s Count Circles have been surveyed for 30 years or more. Seven circles have been doing surveys for at least 65 years. Areas like Mount Carleton in the boreal forest are surveyed regularly by just two people and have quite different results from an urban count like Fredericton which has different habitats and 75 to 100 participants. Both areas find very different birds than Ile Miscou or Grand Manan, but all four of these areas have been operating for more than five decades. With wintertime environmental data being scarce and half-century-long data sets even more scarce, the province’s CBC data is unique.
Nature NB has supported the Christmas Bird Count since the organization started. It has promoted the CBC across the province and, importantly, has published CBC results continuously since 1969. The published results are all readily available through Nature NB’s website. Until recently, 75% of these results had never been posted to Audubon and were locked into PDFs and Excel files, but they are now being brought to life in a searchable database. The almost 7 million birds that have been recorded to the end of 2025 are beginning to tell their stories.
Why not participate in the 2026 CBC? You only need to know one bird, our provincial bird which often has perfect attendance on all CBCs in the province – the Black-capped Chickadee. If you can find birds, you can be paired with someone who can identify them. And who knows, you just may be the one to find our seven millionth bird next CBC season. If you want to find a CBC Count Circle near you, go to Birds Canada’s website around December 1.
