History
 
Frank Chapman

Prior to the turn of the century, people engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas "Side Hunt": They would choose sides and go afield with their guns; whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won.

Conservation was in its beginning stages around the turn of the 20th century, and many observers and scientists were becoming concerned about declining bird populations. Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank Chapman, an early officer in the then budding Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition-a "Christmas Bird Census"-that would count birds in the holidays rather than hunt them.

So began the Christmas Bird Count. Thanks to the inspiration of Frank M. Chapman and the enthusiasm of twenty-seven dedicated birders, twenty-five Christmas Bird Counts were held that day. The locations ranged from Toronto, Ontario to Pacific Grove, California with most counts in or near the population centers of northeastern North America. Those original 27 Christmas Bird Counters tallied a total of 90 species on all the counts combined.

 

First CBC: December 25, 1900
About 18,500 individual birds and 27 total participants
Cumulative bird species list:
89 species total

* American Black Duck
* Mallard
* Common Goldeneye
* Ruffed Grouse
* Greater Prairie-Chicken
* California Quail
* Northern Bobwhite
* Common Loon
* Horned Grebe
* Turkey Vulture
* Northern Goshawk
* Red-shouldered Hawk
* Red-tailed Hawk
* Ferruginous Hawk
* American Kestrel
* Killdeer
* Herring Gull
* Great Black-backed Gull
* Band-tailed Pigeon
* Mourning Dove
* Burrowing Owl
* Barred Owl
* Common Poor-will
* Anna's Hummingbird
* Lewis's Woodpecker
* Red-bellied Woodpecker
* Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
* Downy Woodpecker
* Hairy Woodpecker
* White-headed Woodpecker

* Northern Flicker
* Black Phoebe
* Say's Phoebe
* Loggerhead Shrike
* Northern Shrike
* Hutton's Vireo
* Blue Jay
* Western Scrub-Jay
* Black-billed Magpie
* American Crow
* Fish Crow
* Horned Lark
* Carolina Chickadee
* Black-capped Chickadee
* Mountain Chickadee
* Plain Titmouse
* Tufted Titmouse
* Bushtit
* Red-breasted Nuthatch
* White-breasted Nuthatch
* Pygmy Nuthatch
* Brown Creeper
* Carolina Wren
* Winter Wren
* Golden-crowned Kinglet
* Ruby-crowned Kinglet
* Eastern Bluebird
* Western Bluebird
* Hermit Thrush
* American Robin

* Varied Thrush
* Wrentit
* Northern Mockingbird
* European Starling
* American Pipit
* Yellow-rumped Warbler
* Townsend's Warbler
* Spotted Towhee
* Canyon Towhee
* American Tree Sparrow
* Field Sparrow
* Fox Sparrow
* Song Sparrow
* Swamp Sparrow
* White-throated Sparrow
* White-crowned Sparrow
* Golden-crowned Sparrow
* Dark-eyed Junco
* Northern Cardinal
* Red-winged Blackbird
* Eastern Meadowlark
* Western Meadowlark
* Brewer's Blackbird
* Common Grackle
* Pine Grosbeak
* Purple Finch
* House Finch
* Red Crossbill
* American Goldfinch

Counts conducted in first CBC:
25 total counts

* Scotch Lake, York County, New Brunswick
* Toronto, Ontario
* Keene, New Hampshire
* Belmont and Cambridge, Massachusetts
* Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Massachusetts
* Winchester, Massachusetts
* Bristol, Connecticut
* Norwalk, Connecticut
* Auburn to Owasco Lake, New York
* Central Park, New York City, New York
* Englewood, New Jersey
* Moorestown, New Jersey
* Newfield, New Jersey 		* Baldwin, Louisiana
* Pueblo, Colorado
* Germantown, Pennsylvania
* Wyncote, Pennsylvania
* Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
* Oberlin, Ohio
* Glen Elyn, Illinois
* North Freedom, Sauk County, Wisconsin
* La Grange, Missouri
* Pacific Grove, Monterey County, California
* Neshaminy Creek & Upper Delaware River, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
* Delaware River Meadows, Tinicum Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania