It's one of the biggest annual community science efforts in the country: every year, during the three weeks flanking Christmas, groups of volunteers head out for a day tromping around in the cold, trying to count every single bird they see in their designated section of a 15-mile area.
This year marks the 125th anniversary of the Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count. In Maine, the massive citizen science event happens all across the state, from the Greater Portland area to Monhegan Island.
Doug Hitchcox, a staff naturalist for Maine Audubon, has organized count efforts for years. He recently returned from a day on Monhegan, where he and his father attempted to count every bird on the two-mile-long island.
"There's a couple snowy owls that have been spending the last few weeks out on the island, and pretty much all the residents, whether they're birders or not, everyone loves a silly owl," he said. "So everyone I ran into, even if they're folks that don't know you that well, they see you with binoculars, and it's that fun, like, 'oh, you seen the snowy owl yet?' 'Yes, thank you!'"
While the data collected from a community science project at this scale isn't as reliable or rigorous as a controlled study, there's no way they'd be able to collect this sheer amount of data without lots of people involved, Hitchcox said.
As long as the data is collected and organized in the same way every year, researchers can still draw trends and see patterns, even if the greenest volunteers are involved. As the climate warms, the count data has allowed the Audubon to identify several birds, like the Northern Cardinal and Carolina Wren, that are staying in the state further and further into the winter.
"Especially in Maine, there's an interesting trend. We are kind of on the northern edge for a bunch of species. And so to see the effects of climate change, where there's a handful of birds that are increasingly over-wintering in Maine, and also spreading their range northward at the same time," Hitchcox said.
Hitchcox went out with a group of over 100 volunteers in the Greater Portland area before Christmas. He said it's the feeling of being part of something bigger, whether alone or with a group, that makes it fun. And, the count is a chance for beginner birders to get started.
"What I like about it is the idea that every bird counts. I feel like, so often birders, we talk about the rare birds, finding the elusive ones. But during a Christmas bird count, you are trying to count every single chickadee, every pigeon in the city. You know, you find a massive flock of gulls, and it's like, all right, we need to count all 350 of these."
Interested birders can head to Maine Audubon's website to find information for how to join a count in their area.