Each year for a two week period around Christmas, the National Audubon Society sponsors a bird count to assess the health of the bird population in the United States.
Through the diligent work of local birding enthusiast Julie Szabo, the National Audubon Society has reactivated the Lake Elsinore Christmas Bird Count (CBC). The last time the Lake Elsinore region was represented was in 1944.
The local birding group has high hopes for conducting this official CBC. Dedicated volunteers who appreciate the natural beauty and wildlife of Lake Elsinore are urged to participate and become beginning birders.
The count for this season will be held on Saturday, January 2, 2010 starting at 8:00 AM at the Lake Elsinore levee entrance adjacent to the Storm Baseball stadium entrance. The count will go on all day, but start at the levee, and then groups will disperse to count at Canyon Lake and other areas nearby. We will also have a group out earlier than 8:00 AM to look for owls. Several burrowing owl families in Wildomar did well this year, with many offspring.
Please mark your calendars. I hope you can join us that day, even if you can’t stay all day, and invite others. The cost is $5 for Adults, under 18 is Free, and goes towards a book that you receive later in the year from Audubon that describes all of the counts. You can contact Julie Szabo at jsszabo1@verizon.net or 951-678-8138 for more information or to sign up.
For more information contact the Lake Department at (951) 674-7730.
Field Trip Checklist:
Directions:
Goal for Christmas Bird Count (CBC) for Lake Elsinore:
In January 2009, the local birding group completed a trial Christmas Bird Count for the purpose of training locals to identify birds and to qualify the group with the Audubon Society. During the trail CBC the group spotted 106 different species and over 11,000 birds.
2008 Birdlist from trail CBC.