2008 Press Releases
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Release #141-08


GAME COMMISSION URGES PARTICIPATION IN CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT

HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania Game Commission officials are urging wildlife enthusiasts to join the tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the United States in the Audubon Society’s 109th Annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC), which will take place Dec. 14 through Jan. 5.

“Bird enthusiasts, armed with binoculars, bird guides and checklists, will head out on an annual mission - often before dawn - to make a difference and to experience the beauty of creation,” said Dan Brauning, Game Commission Wildlife Diversity Section supervisor. “Each year, volunteers brave snow, wind, or rain, to take part in the Christmas Bird Count, and they have made an enormous contribution to conservation to help guide conservation actions.

“The data collected through this effort – which is the longest-running wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations – allows researchers, conservation biologists, and other interested individuals to study the long-term health and status of bird populations across North America. When combined with other surveys such as the Breeding Bird Survey, it provides a picture of how the continent's bird populations have changed in time and space over the past hundred years.”