We are in that time of the year when few want to work and little is going on until the new year comes around.
However, Paul Lightsey and his family have bundled up and headed out on the last Saturday of every year to look at the sky for a few hours.
On a chilly Saturday morning at Linn Grove Cemetery, Lightsey and his daughter Ginny Ceehorne and his granddaughter Hannah Ceehorne had their binoculars at the ready for the 125th year of the National Audubon Christmas Bird Count.
Paul Lightsey heads to another spot in Linn Grove Cemetery on Saturday morning during the Greeley Annual Christmas Bird Count. Since December 1976, the count has taken place every December in Greeley. Every year from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5, thousands of volunteers participate in counts across the country. (Zant Reyez/Staff Reporter)In December of 1900, Frank Chapman proposed an alternative to the “side-hunt” tradition that had hunters seeing how many animals they could kill in one day. Chapman, who was the editor of Bird-Lore and one of the Audubon Society founders, suggested instead of killing animals, the hunters should observe and count as many birds as possible.
Since then, the count is every year from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5. and has more than 80,000 participants at over 2,600 sites.
Lightsey has been a participant in the Greeley count since 1978 and was named a compiler in 2001. Compilers collect all the data from participants and then send the results to the National Audubon Cornell Lab of Ornithology in New York State.
“It’s a great tradition,” Ginny said.
Ginny has been coming out with her father every year for the past 20 years.
This year’s Greeley Count featured 38 people who formed nine groups that were spread out in a 15-mile radius from the starting location of Lincoln Park in downtown Greeley.
Lightsey said some of the most common birds in the area at this time are blue jays, junco birds and Canadian geese. He said the geese are by far the most prominent species in the area. However, not every “little brown bird” can be counted. Counters must know the exact species they’re identifying.
“You only county birds that you can identify the species,” he said. “We can’t just count little brown birds.”
In the Greeley Count coverage area, Lightsey estimated there are usually between 50-60 species. Most counters spend four to six hours doing the count.
Once the data is collected, which includes weather conditions, the leaders of each count group meet in the evening that day for the Tally Rally. The rally takes less than two hours to finish. As the compiler, Lightsey collects all the data from the rally and then sends it to headquarters on New Year’s Day.
He holds off from sending the results immediately because during “count week,” residents could identify species not spotted on count day. Lightsey said he includes those species identified during the week in the final findings.
“It’s really been a great example of a long-term citizen science,” he said. “(It’s) just citizens providing information that really has allowed (us) to understand the ecological science of what bird populations are doing and are they changing?”
To be a part of next year’s count or for more information, call Lightsey at 970-356-1402.
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