Almost every year around the middle of December you can count on northwest Wyoming weather rearing its ugly head just as area birding volunteers are heading out to assist in the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, the nation's longest-running community science bird project.

The annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count, which has been held for 123 years, occurs one day per year (selected by each group) between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5. 

How Christy Fleming, Kane Christmas Bird Count organizer and Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area lead ranger for the parks Interpretation and Education Division, manages to choose one of the worst days of weather each year is a mystery. The date is chosen months in advance. Once announced, you can plan on having your long johns and fuzzy mittens ready by sunrise the morning of the event. You’re going to need them.

This year’s blast of nastiness wasn’t quite as bad as in past years. Still, wickedly icy wind snuck through every seam and an inch of ice pocked the rural trails through Yellowtail Wildlife Habitat Management Area. Regardless of the pain, the volunteers persevere.

Looking out over one of the several bodies of water at Yellowtail, which is largely managed for waterfowl by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the cold breeze hit Tyler Kerr square in the jaw. Yet, the newly hired Wyoming crew leader for the Wyoming Bird Conservancy was undeterred in his first experience of the “bird count blizzard” phenomenon. 

“I've had better days of birding, but I've also definitely had worse,” he said after a bald eagle flew over the thick ice about a half mile from shore.

One of the first birds he and friend Zoey Lentz identified was a northern shrike, an interesting predator of song birds that impales its prey on a thorn or a barbed-wire fence to save for a future snack. They also saw horned larks flitting around in the sagebrush and two tree sparrows perched in the willows by the lakeshore. They all go on the list.

While the count is a one day event, Kerr will soon lead the conservancy’s employees and volunteers in tracking avian population and range shifts, habitat quality and overall species diversity in the state most days of the week. 

He said the winter count may come during unpleasant weather, but that it’s an important exercise of citizen science.

“What's more important, I think, is the value of the combined data (from hundreds of study areas, over many years) for getting an idea of these species' large-scale population and range trends. As I understand it, the other really big studies (notably the Breeding Bird Survey) are mostly in the spring and summer, and it's important to gather data from different points in their breeding and migration cycles,” he said.

He also pointed out public involvement in bird counts can be a big influence on people's attitudes about nature, and their relationship with it. 

“I’m certainly not an expert there, but studies like this give people opportunities to make a concrete impact on wildlife management and conservation, even if it's a small piece of a very large puzzle,” Kerr said.

Along the way he found iced-over trails leading deep into his two territories. His 4x4, despite fairly aggressive tires, was no match for the occasional skating rink, limiting the ability to scout the area fully. After having traction issues, he hiked down the road and found it only got worse the further into the foothills he moved. They soon decided to find different paths in the flatter portions of their designated areas.

While Kerr was in his element with years of birding experience, Richard and Emily Olsen have had very little experience identifying birds but still wanted to help out.

“We had a pair of binoculars that were sitting at home needing something to do,” Richard quipped. 

He explained the couple sometimes has a hard time finding outdoor entertainment in winter and “were finding something new to do — starting a new tradition.”

All are invited, whether experienced or simply looking to try on a new hobby for size. 

Despite the challenging weather associated with the event of late, some of the volunteers have been helping with the hunt since its inception 32 years ago.

“The Christmas Bird Count would not happen without the volunteers,” Fleming said. “They are the ones that brave the weather each year and dedicate one day to count birds. They ensure continuity in bird counts. Bird counts happen right in the middle of the holiday season. They probably all have other things they can be doing but they show up each year for the birds.” 

The team of volunteers recorded 85 wild turkeys in Area 7, belted kingfishers in areas 4 and 5, pinyon jays in Area 10, canyon and marsh wrens in Area 10, and Bohemian waxwings and lessor goldfinches in Area 5. They also saw some rare (for the area) birds. The list of species counted five or less years of the 32 years the Kane Christmas Bird Count has been organized included gadwalls, Wilson's snipes, short-eared owls, canyon wrens, field sparrows and dark-eyed juncos and lessor goldfinches.

The seasonal event now includes all 50 states and 20 countries in the western hemisphere. While the number of counts being done and the number of volunteers involved change every year, Audubon has a method to ensure the counts develop meaningful data.

Before the organization calculates Christmas Bird Count trends for a species, they divide the raw number of birds counted by a function that describes the statistical relationship between effort spent and birds counted. Then they look at how those resulting, effort-corrected counts change over the time, to generate the population trend, they said in response to questions about the impact of the event.

“The count is a volunteer effort, where volunteers have a lot of flexibility regarding where, when, and how to conduct counts from year to year and from place to place. This contrasts with some other wildlife studies, where counting protocols are highly standardized and prescribed. The flexible format of the count encourages participation, but also has consequences for generating trends. It means that we have to pool results across several circles before we can tease statistical signals from methodological noise,” the organization reported prior to this year’s count.

They are currently working on new methods that will allow them to estimate trends at finer spatial scales.

“It will be a while before we are satisfied with the performance of those methods and can report results,” they reported.