Iowa City Christmas Bird Count –Location: Field observation and Feeder watch.

Join us for this holiday tradition! To participate, contact Chris Edwards atcredwards@aol.com or (319) 430-4732 by December 16. We need participants in the field and as feeder watchers. If you wish to be a field participant, you will be assigned to a specific area to cover. If you wish to be a feeder watcher,email Chris your address and he will make sure you are in the count circle and will send you a reporting form. If you know others who may want to participate as feeder watchers, please have them contact Chris.

The Christmas Bird Count program is administered by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and it is the longest-running citizen science project in existence. The Iowa City count area is a 15-mile diameter circle centered in North Liberty. It includes parts of Iowa City, all of Coralville,Lake Macbride, Kent Park, and most of the Coralville Reservoir. The goal is to identify and count all the birds found in the count circle on the day of the count. The circle is divided into ten territories, and traditionally a group is assigned to cover each territory.

Modifications will be made to this year’s count due to the ongoing corona virus pandemic. At this time, we anticipate there will be no noon or evening meetings. The compiler will work with each group leader to subdivide their normal territories, so all participants will be able to bird individually or in family groups.