by Lottie Bushmann

CBC (Christmas Bird Count) and Chili Potluck, Saturday, Dec. 16th.

Bird Count

With all our section leaders in place for this year, the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a go! Thankfully, birding is a safe, outdoor activity and we have plenty of birders in Columbia that plan to do just that. We will send out our teams on Saturday Dec. 16th. Please contact your section leader if you have worked with someone in the past to get details for your job. If you haven’t participated recently (or are a newbie!) please email me at lottie.bushmann@gmail.com and we’ll get you on a team. All experience levels are welcome.

• Columbia Audubon has a strong tradition with participation in this amazing citizen scientist project.
• Columbia Audubon has a strong tradition with participation in this amazing citizen scientist project. Please read Bill Clark’s article in the Nov. 2021 Chat at this link History of the Christmas Bird Count to learn more about this historic event.
• We’ll use ebird to compile our data as well as a count during the Chili Supper. Simply share your ebird lists from the day with the username: casbirddata.
• Not interested in going out to bird but would like your feeder birds included in the count? If your home is within our 16 mile count circle, you can submit an ebird list and share it with casbirddata. If you’re not sure if your home is in the area, email me and I’ll help you figure it out. Not an ebird user? You can still participate by emailing me a list of your yardbirds and I can submit an ebird list on your behalf. This is another fun way to become involved and make your birds count.

Chili Supper

After our bird quests in the field, come enjoy food, friends, and our total tally of feathered residents and visitors at CAS Christmas Bird Count Chili Supper/Potluck. We’ll look at species totals and see how this year stacks up against previous years.

Saturday December 16th at Fairview Community of Christ Church, 1111 S. Fairview Road (one mile S. of Broadway.) The event starts at 5:30pm, dinner should start at 6 pm. We have the building for the evening. Parking is in the rear. We’ll be in the Community Hall at the south end of the building as usual.

The Chili Supper is a potluck. We need contributions of chili, bread, veggies and desserts. If you weren’t able to sign-up to bring a contribution, you can email Judy Lincoln at lincolnj@missouri.edu to find out what we still need to round out our dinner. Drinks will be provided.

Tables available for chili crockpots, will bring some multi-plug outlets but if you have an outlet, that would be helpful. CAS would like help setting up tables and chairs and putting them away when done.

LOOK FOR CBC RESULTS in the January CHAT newsletter.
QUESTIONS? Ask John Besser (jbesser1@gmail.com) or Lottie Bushmann (lottie.bushmann@gmail.com)