Christmas Bird Count
The 2025 Iowa City Christmas Bird Count will be held on Sunday December 14
The Christmas Bird Count program is administered by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It is the longest-running citizen science project in existence. The Iowa City count has been conducted annually since 1951.
This year’s Iowa City Christmas Bird Count will be held Sunday, December 14, 2025. If you plan to participate, please let me know as soon as possible, even if you’re a “maybe” at this point. Let me know if you plan to bird with a specific group or have a preference for a particular area – I’ll try to accommodate those requests when possible.
For those who may be new to the Christmas Bird Count, the count is conducted on one day within a 15-mile diameter circle, which includes northwest Iowa City, Coralville, Tiffin, North Liberty, Solon, Lake Macbride, Kent Park, and most of the Coralville Reservoir: The goal is to find as many species and individual birds as possible. We need participants in the field as well as feeder watchers. If you wish to be a field participant, you will be assigned to a small group with an experienced leader, and your leader will contact you to coordinate a meeting time and place on the day of the count. You can participate for part or all of the day. Some groups look for owls before dawn. Most groups spend some time hiking, as well as some time birding from the car, so you will need to dress for the weather. Change this year: we will meet at 1:00 p.m. in room CD of the North Liberty Library for our mid-day compilation. The library is in the same building as the North Liberty Community Center, where we have met in the past. The library does not open until 1:00 p.m. Bring your own lunch.
If you wish to be a feeder watcher, you can count the birds at your feeders and in your yard. I’ll need your address in order to verify that you live within the count circle, which includes most of the Coralville Reservoir, Lake Macbride, Solon, North Liberty, Tiffin, Coralville, and the northwest portion of Iowa City. If you have any friends or neighbors who may want to participate, please pass this information along to them.
To participate, please contact me ASAP by email (preferred) at credwards@aol.com or by phone or text at 319-430-4732. The sign-up deadline is Wednesday, December 10, but it is very helpful if you let me know sooner. Thanks.,
Forms for This Year’s Count (2025)
Future Dates and Times will be on the Calendar, in the “Events” column, in the Newsletter and, if you are a member, you will be notified by email!
