Christmas Bird Count Maps

Results of the Morro Bay and Carrizo Plain Christmas Bird Counts Here.

The 2008 Carrizo Plain Christmas Bird Count will be Saturday, January 3rd, 2009. For more information, click HERE.

PLEASE NOTE THE NEW LOCATION FOR THE COMPILATION DINNER.

The 2008 Morro Bay Christmas Bird Count will be on Saturday, December 20, dawn to dusk, rain or shine! It will be followed as usual with our compilation potluck dinner at 6 p.m. at the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden Education Building in El Chorro Park across Highway 1 from Cuesta College.

Our Bird Count area is a circle 15 miles in diameter, centered at Turri Road and Los Osos Valley Road. Only species and numbers of birds seen within this area may be counted. The results of over 1000 counts in North America are compiled by the National Audubon Society and used to ascertain the annual distribution and fluctuation in numbers of North American birds. Our success in the national ranking has been the result of having many people in the field sighting birds.

Please look over the map of the count area, pick out your favorite spot, and send in your registration along with the $5.00 REGISTRATION FEE REQUIRED BY NATIONAL AUDUBON FOR EACH PARTICIPANT. Checks should be made out to Morro Coast Audubon Society. Audubon membership is not required, but National rules will not permit us to accept a count from an unregistered observer. The $5.00 fee goes toward the compilation and publication costs of the data in the American Birds Magazine.

STEP 1-Choose a sector

To access the main map area click here. This will take you to an image map where you can click on any sector in the count and pull up information and a map of that sector.

STEP 2-Register either online or by mail

Click here to register online.

Click here to download a printable form to register for the bird count and mail back with your fee.

• Christmas Count Bird Checklist

   Suggestion: Print page one of checklist, turn the paper over and print page 2  for the trifold checklist.
• Rare Bird Report Form This form is needed for any bird not on the checklist, and birds marked on the checklist with an asterisk.

YOUR REGISTRATION IS REQUESTED BY NOVEMBER 27th to properly organize Sector groups for thorough coverage of the entire area. In early December you will receive a Bird Count packet and your Sector Leader will contact you.

Compiler: Tom Edell (805) 995-1691
Count Coordinators: Bert and Elaine Townsend 543-1373 ( Please call before 8 p.m. if possible.)
E-mail: Bert Townsend

We thank EVERYONE for their interest and registering for this event. The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a very important survey, in that it has been conducted for 105 years. The length of time and the consistency of its methods make the "study" scientifically significant. This data can and will be used to help the conservation effort. The results of our surveys have helped pass a "Wetlands" bill, a "Clean Water" bill, and ban the use of organo chlorines as pesticides, and preserved many acres from development.

Thank you, Audubon members everywhere. Please realize that on December 15 that you are part of a team. We seek specific data on the diversity and population of the birds in our count area. You are part of a team and your efforts are being directed by a group that is responsible for the consistency and quality of the data produced. If there is an area that you would like to explore and have not been assigned it for the CBC, please plan on birding there after the survey is finished. We count on your utmost attention on all you hear and see during the survey in the area you have been assigned.

Again, thank you. We have had a tremendous response this year. Good luck, team! Please call me if you have any questions or comments, Jan Surbey, Morro Coast Audubon President, 772-7273

Great Egret by Linda Tanner