The Christmas bird count

The Christmas bird count began on Christmas Day of 1900, when Frank Chapman, an ornithologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, proposed it as an alternative to the traditional Christmas Day bird hunt.

Twenty-seven people in 25 different locations across the continent participated that first year and counted about 90 species.

In 2015, 114 years later, there was a record 2,505 bird counts in different parts of the world: 1,902 in the US, 471 in Canada, and 132 in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands.

There were 76,669 observers: 59,039 in the US, 10,669 in Canada, and 6,961 in Latin America, the Caribbean and Pacific Islands.

A total of 2,106 species and 68,753,071 individual birds were recorded.

The highest number of species recorded for any circle during the 2015 Christmas bird count was 529 in Yanayacu, Ecuador.

How is a bird count conducted? An area 15 miles in diameter is selected and the circle is then broken up into smaller sectors.

All birds seen or heard during a 24-hour period are counted and recorded. In Trinidad the centre of the circle is Arouca.

In 1969, Richard and Margaret ffrench were the only participants in the first Christmas bird count held in Trinidad, and over the years the number of participants has gradually increased to an average of 40 annually.

Richard was the compiler of statistics up to the time of his return to the UK in 1985.

For the next 16 years I, then president of the Asa Wright Nature Centre, was the organiser and compiler until 2002 when I handed the baton to Vishnu Debie.

Vishnu is a chemistry teacher and vice-principal of the Arima North Secondary School who has been performing an excellent job as organiser and compiler of the statistics to the satisfaction of everyone.

He is of the opinion that more species are recorded on a cool and overcast day than on a sunny and hot day.

During the 2015 Trinidad Christmas bird count, 183 species were recorded, which was the 20th highest of 183 counts conducted south of the US/ Mexican border.

Of the more than 2,500 bird counts conducted throughout the world, the Trinidad count is unique in being the only one which records the nocturnal oilbird.

In 2015, 186 oilbirds were recorded in the Dunston Cave at the Asa Wright Nature Centre.

On count day, 3,118 scarlet ibises were counted at Caroni Swamp.

It is my wish that in the near future, with the increasing number of birdwatchers, an annual bird count will be conducted in south Trinidad and there will also be an increase in the number of participants in the Tobago count. The Christmas bird count has been an ideal tool in identifying Trinidad and Tobago as an ideal destination for birdwatchers. Interested people are invited to participate and may contact Vishnu Debie at 640-5433; Graham White at 642- 0570; or Kimberly Chu Foon at 667- 4655(Asa W r i g h t N a t u r e Centre) for further information.