Christmas Bird Counting with BirdingApp

It has been an exceptional fall here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with notable rarities including a long-staying Rufous Hummingbird, a one-day Cave Swallow, a brief visit from an immature Little Gull, and—just last week—the state’s first record of Great Cormorant (!) For now, the cormorant remains in the area; fingers crossed that it will stay through the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) week.

The Tennessee River widens into Chickamauga Lake just north of the city above the dam, a feature that concentrates migrating waterbirds—especially Common Loons and Horned Grebes. Loons are among the most frustrating birds to count, as they spread out across large areas and are rarely in a single scannable raft. Fortunately, we recently created a handy tool in BirdingApp to help with this: the clicker. Simply turn on birding mode from the home page and tap the “clicker” button in the upper left to access this feature.

It is straightforward to use and produces satisfying sounds, as if it were a real mechanical clicker. When it is cold, you can keep your gloves on and simply use the phone’s up and down volume buttons to increment either clicker. Hold the minus button to reset. Sometimes there are so many birds that counting them one at a time simply is not practical. In such cases, just set the multiplier to 2, 5, or even 10,000, and BirdingApp will increment the count for you.

When steady streams of birds are flying past, such as gulls or blackbirds, use the timer at the top. Count the number that pass during the timed period, then, for the final tally, multiply that figure by the total number of minutes the flight continued. For more information on how to properly count birds for the CBC—or any time—refer to eBird’s classic Bird Counting 101 articles.

For the CBC season you can also add your count circle—or any noteworthy bird locations—to the map using our favorite pins feature that was introduced in our January Update.

Finally, in case you missed it, be sure to listen to Tim’s recent appearance on Ed Pullen’s Birding Banter podcast.

Happy Holiday Birding!