Trixie Strauss Christmas Bird Count 2021
In-person bird counting with an evening online component
Sunday, December 19, 2021
12:00am Eastern Connecticut Online Event
Location Details
Trixie Strauss Christmas Bird Count Area
06039, CT
Join Audubon and fellow bird-lovers for a wonderful and impactful birding tradition! Each year for the last 122 years, small groups of birders have ventured out for the sole purpose of counting birds during the Christmas Bird Count (CBC).
Sharon Audubon Center's free CBC event, known as the Trixie Strauss Christmas Bird Count, will take place on Sunday, December 19, 2021, from 12:01 a.m. to midnight, and anyone in our area is welcome to join this 24-hour event. Most of the birding takes place from sunrise to sunset. The count area is a 15-mile circle (with its center at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut), which encompasses some excellent birding areas in Sharon, Salisbury, and Falls Village, Connecticut as well as Amenia and North East, New York.
Teams and individuals from all over the state and all over the country (and even Canada) take part in the CBC, and all of the numbers are compiled and reported to help better understand what birds are doing in the winter. Please be prepared to follow state and local regulations around COVID-19.
You don’t have to be an expert birder to enjoy CBC—it's for everyone! This year, more than ever, we need your help—no matter whoever and wherever (within the count circle) you are. Watching and counting birds at your feeder is also an amazing way to help take part in the CBC without leaving your home and braving the chilly weather. Simply give your count numbers to our compiler right after the count day and they will be included in our overall CBC report.
In the evening, after most of the counts have been completed, the Trixie Strauss Christmas Bird Count teams will gather for a virtual count-up where birders turn in their data and share stories from a great day of birding. Even if you can’t join us in the field, you are welcome to join us online to hear what people have seen.
We ask anyone who lives in the surrounding towns to fill up your bird feeders to help with our counts!
Please contact Bethany Sheffer at bethany.sheffer@audubon.org or 860-364-0520 to sign-up to participate, with questions, and for complier and the evening data gathering information.
Song Sparrow. Photo: PJ Kaszas / Audubon Photography Awards
Sharon Audubon Center is an engaging nature education center with a critical Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic located in Sharon, Connecticut. We are part of the Audubon Connecticut state office of the National Audubon Society and the Atlantic Flyway, and steward a total of four Audubon nature sanctuaries and more than 2,100 acres of primarily woodland habitat in Northwestern Connecticut. Our mission is to protect birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow. Visitors are welcome to enjoy our trails, nature programs, and conservation-themed events throughout the year.