Christmas Bird Count

The purpose is to provide population data for use in science, especially conservation biology, though many people participate for recreation.

[1] In the 19th century, many North Americans participated in the tradition of Christmas "side hunts", in which they competed at how many birds they could kill.

[2] In December 1900, the U.S. ornithologist Frank Chapman, founder of Bird-Lore (which became Audubon magazine), proposed counting birds on Christmas instead of killing them.

On Christmas Day of that year, 27 observers took part in the first count in 25 places in the United States and Canada.

[citation needed] The greatest number of bird species ever reported by any U.S. location in a single count is 250, observed on December 19, 2005, in the Matagorda County-Mad Island Marsh count circle around Matagorda and Palacios, Texas.