Birders - Photo: Judith White

GET READY FOR THE SEQUIM-DUNGENESS CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT!

by Bob Boekelheide

The annual Sequim-Dungeness Christmas Bird Count (SDCBC) occurs this year on Monday, December 19. If you are interested in participating, please email Bob Boekelheide at bboek@olympus.net to sign up.

The Christmas Bird Count covers a 15-mile diameter count circle, so we need lots of participants to cover as much of the area as possible. Even if you can only count your backyards or stroll around your neighborhood for an hour or two (assuming you live within a 15-mile diameter count circle), you can help out. We also have field parties assigned to specific areas of the count circle. If you are an experienced counter, you may be able to help with areas not covered by others.

The center of the SDCBC circle is near the intersection of Brown and Port Williams Roads, so it includes Dungeness Spit, Dungeness and Sequim Bays, Protection Island, Diamond Point, and some of the Olympic foothills south of Sequim. 

To prepare and gain experience for the CBC, the most important thing is to GO BIRDING.  Look at and identify all the birds you can in November and December before the counts. We will have a pre-CBC warm-up field trip on Saturday, Dec. 10, starting at the Dungeness River Nature Center at 9 am. We will view land birds at RR Bridge Park, then travel to Dungeness Bay to observe water birds. Please join us!