Join CAS for the Boone County migration count on May 8.

Columbia Audubon Society will continue its tradition of doing a Boone County-wide Bird Count on the second Saturday of May (May 8 this year). Our count will be held on the same day the ‘Global Big Day’ promoted by eBird, and all the data from the Boone County count will be entered into eBird, so participants will be able to compare their lists with other Big Day birders.

We conduct the migration count in much the same way we do the Christmas Bird Count, by dividing the map of Boone County into smaller count areas (see figure) and having volunteer leaders recruit birders to help them cover their section. Most of the same leaders and helpers from previous years will be participating again, but there may be a vacancy for one area leader and there is definitely room for more volunteers who want to help in one of the count areas. If you’re interested, please contact Laura Hillman (HillmanL@health.missouri.edu). She should be able to find you a group that needs more counters.

Here’s how we will compile the data using eBird: Each group will enter their checklist in to eBird as usual. Groups should submit as many checklists for their count area as needed to reflect what locations they birded and when. Also, use the ‘checklist comments’ field to indicate which area you counted. Checklists that are to be part of the Boone County migration count must be shared with the Columbia Audubon Society’s’ eBird account, using the username, ’casbirddata’. You can share the checklist either in the field using the eBird mobile app or later on the eBird website  If nobody in your account group uses eBird, you can enter the data into the CAS account directly rather than sharing it. For instructions on data entry or other questions about eBird, contact John Besser (jbesser1@gmail.com).

Once all the checklists are safely entered into eBird, the data will be downloaded and sorted into an Excel file that will allow us to compare the species counts and total bird counts with results of previous counts. Look for results in the June CHAT!