Community Science - New Hope Bird Alliance

Brown-headed Nuthatch by Linda Borkowski

You can help bird conservation by participating with other New Hope Audubon members in a number of community science projects sponsored both on a local and national level in cooperation with our parent organization, the National Audubon Society, and with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. How does this help? Here is how the National Audubon Society explains it:

“More than a century ago, Audubon pioneered the idea of citizen science with the first Christmas Bird Count. Today the longest-running wildlife census in the hemisphere continues to shape and inform our approach to conservation, providing vital information about bird populations and trends, data that alerts us to environmental threats not only to birds but to the larger ecosystems we all depend on. As partners with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in ebird.org, Audubon has helped transform citizen science into an everyday activity for tens of thousands of birders. Their observations, reported online anytime and from anywhere throughout North America, provide an ongoing assessment of bird populations that is fast becoming an invaluable resource for conservation.”

Here are some community science projects in which you can directly participate:

Help with New Hope Audubon sponsored local bird counts and surveys including Christmas and Spring Bird Counts, Eagle Counts, and Mini Breeding Bird Surveys. See our Bird Counts webpage for more information.
Record your bird sightings on eBird.
Count birds in your yard or neighborhood for the Great Backyard Bird Count.
Participate in any of several other projects sponsored by the Cornell Lab such as NestWatch and Project Feeder Watch.
New Hope Audubon Society will be participating in National Audubon’s Climate Watch Program through NC Audubon. Audubon’s Birds and Climate Change Report predicts that over half of North American bird species will lose more than 50 percent of their current climatic range by 2080. To test these predictions, Audubon is running the new citizen and community science project Climate Watch. Climate Watch aims to document species’ responses to climate change by having volunteers in the field look for birds where Audubon’s climate models project they should be in the 2020s. We are currently recruiting participants for the summer and winter counts. If you are interested, please email Marcia Mandel at [email protected] and be sure to put “Climate Watch” in the subject field.
“A group of government agencies, universities, and nonprofit organizations launched the North Carolina Bird Atlas in 2021. The state-wide community science survey will harness the power of thousands of birdwatchers to map the distribution and abundance of birds from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Outer Banks. Click here for more information.
Help with bird-window collisions survey on UNC-Chapel Hill campus. Click here for more information.
Bird Survey at Brumley North. Triangle Land Conservancy and New Hope Bird Alliance are organizing bird surveys each spring and fall migration seasons at Brumley North to examine the effects of invasive plant removal, prescribed burn and other habitat improvement activities on the bird community.
Prothonotary Warbler nest box monitoring. NHBA members built Prothonotary Warbler nest boxes and have them installed in Durham, Orange and Chatham counties. If you see or hear any at any of the locations noted, please indicate the specific location in your eBird submissions. All boxes are in the water. You can leave comments under sightings of Prothonotary Warbler in your eBird checklist such as “at the beginning of the boardwalk going clockwise at Mason Farm,” or “silo pond Brumley North,” or “left corner of the lake near the kiosk at Sandy Creek”. If you see signs of Prothonotary nest box use, please write in eBird checklist species comments or email Don Pelly at [email protected]. eBird submissions will be monitored daily. Boxes are located at: Brumley Forest North & South, Mason Farm Biological Reserve, Sandy Creek Park, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, White Pines Nature Preserve, Blackwood Farm Park, Eno River Confluence Natural Area.

You can help bird conservation by participating with other New Hope Bird Alliance members in community science projects sponsored both on a local and national level in cooperation with our parent organization, the National Audubon Society, and with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. How does this help? Here is how the National Audubon Society explains it:

“More than a century ago, Audubon pioneered the idea of citizen science with the first Christmas Bird Count. Today the longest-running wildlife census in the hemisphere continues to shape and inform our approach to conservation, providing vital information about bird populations and trends, data that alerts us to environmental threats not only to birds but to the larger ecosystems we all depend on. As partners with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in ebird.org, Audubon has helped transform community science into an everyday activity for tens of thousands of birders. Their observations, reported online anytime and from anywhere throughout North America, provide an ongoing assessment of bird populations that is fast becoming an invaluable resource for conservation.”

Here are some community science projects in which you can directly participate:

Spring and Christmas Bird Counts:

NHBA sponsors Spring and Christmas bird counts each year in a count circle centered in the area of Jordan Lake in Chatham County (count circle map). We encourage participants of all stripes—beginners and experts, young and old. If you have never counted before, we will team you up with more experienced people.

For detailed information about each of these counts, click on these links:
Jordan Lake Spring Bird Count
Jordan Lake Christmas Bird Count

Also, visit our Bird Count Charts page to explore our historical data going back to 1977 for both our Spring and Christmas Bird Counts. On this page you can generate graphs of the abundance of individual bird species over time, and you can also download spreadsheets of cumulative data.

Bald Eagle Counts:

NHBA also organizes quarterly Bald Eagle counts at Jordan Lake

Breeding Bird Surveys:

Join the Mini Breeding Bird Surveys in Orange, Durham, and Chatham Counties.

Great Backyard Bird Count:

Count birds in your yard or neighborhood for the Great Backyard Bird Count.

Other Bird Counts:

There are also many other bird counts in North and South Carolina. Follow
these links for more information:
http://chbc.carolinanature.com/countsched.html for other local NC counts
http://www.carolinabirdclub.org/christmas/ for all counts in NC and SC

Use eBird:

Record your bird sightings on eBird to track your own observations and to contribute to a worldwide database that is important for bird research.

Prothonotary Warbler Nest Monitoring:

A local project using eBird is the prothonotary warbler nest box monitoring. NHBA members built Prothonotary Warbler nest boxes and have installed them in Durham, Orange and Chatham counties. If you see or hear any at any of the locations noted, please indicate the specific location in your eBird submissions. All boxes are in the water. You can leave comments under sightings of Prothonotary Warbler in your eBird checklist such as “at the beginning of the boardwalk going clockwise at Mason Farm,” or “silo pond Brumley North,” or “left corner of the lake near the kiosk at Sandy Creek”. If you see signs of Prothonotary nest box use, please write in eBird checklist species comments or email Don Pelly at [email protected]. eBird submissions will be monitored daily. Boxes are located at: Brumley Forest North & South, Mason Farm Biological Reserve, Sandy Creek Park, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, White Pines Nature Preserve, Blackwood Farm Park, Eno River Confluence Natural Area.

NestWatch and Feeder Watch:

Participate in any of several other projects sponsored by the Cornell Lab such as NestWatch and Project Feeder Watch.

Climate Watch:

NHBA participates in National Audubon’s Climate Watch Program through NC Audubon. Audubon’s Birds and Climate Change Report predicts that over half of North American bird species will lose more than 50 percent of their current climatic range by 2080. To test these predictions, Audubon is running the community science project Climate Watch. Climate Watch aims to document species’ responses to climate change by having volunteers in the field look for birds where Audubon’s climate models project they should be in the 2020s. We are currently recruiting participants for the summer and winter counts. If you are interested, please email Marcia Mandel at [email protected] and be sure to put “Climate Watch” in the subject field.

Carolina Bird Atlas:

A group of government agencies, universities, and nonprofit organizations launched the North Carolina Bird Atlas in 2021. The state-wide community science survey harnesses the power of thousands of birdwatchers to map the distribution and abundance of birds from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Outer Banks.

Preventing Bird-Window Collisions:

Help with bird-window collisions survey on UNC-Chapel Hill campus. Click here for more information.

Bird Surveys at Brumley North:

The Triangle Land Conservancy and the New Hope Bird Alliance are organizing Bird Surveys at Brumley North during each of the spring and fall migration seasons to examine the effects on the bird community of invasive plant removal, prescribed burns, and other habitat improvement activities.

Love Wildlife? Give Back.

New Hope Bird Alliance depends on the community to help fund meetings, educational resources, and conservation efforts. Make a donation* to help protect North Carolina’s wildlife for years to come. Thank you for your support!

*Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent provided by law.