Although it started at the turn of the century, Bella Vista is just now joining a Christmas tradition that was introduced by conservationists all those years ago. This year will be the first Bentonville-Bella Vista Christmas Bird Count.
Butch Tetzlaff, the owner of The Bluebird Shed, is organizing the event for the Audubon Society.
It's a chance, Tetzlaff said, for "citizen-scientists" to have an impact on global issues.
The Christmas Bird Count started in response to a different tradition, he explained. Hunters used to compete to see who could shoot the most birds during the holiday season. By encouraging people to count, rather than shoot the birds, birds were saved and information was gathered. In some areas, the Christmas Bird Count is 118 years old.
This will be the first year for the Bentonville-Bella Vista area and Tetzlaff is looking for help.
According to the website, www.Audubon.org/conservation/join-Christmas-bird-count, circles that are 15 miles in diameter are run by volunteer compilers like Tetzlaff. Every bird is counted in the circle.
Anyone can count birds, he explained. Some people will count from their car. Others will find a nice place to walk and count. People who don't want to leave their homes can count the birds at their own bird feeders.
The count begins on Friday, Dec. 14, and runs through Saturday, Jan. 5. Volunteers must contact Tetzlaff before Dec. 14 to receive an assignment. Email is the best way to contact him, Tetzlaff said. The address is [email protected].
"There's a lot of knowledgeable people in the area," he said.
People come into his shop with all kinds of information about the birds they see. Volunteers do need to identify the types of birds. There are about 15 common birds in the area this time of year. While some migrating birds have left the area to move south, others have moved in for the winter from areas that are further north.
The data that is collected will be compiled and will be available for many different types of studies. A lot of environmental questions can be answered with the help of citizen-scientists, Tetzlaff said.
General News on 12/12/2018