Yosemite Area Audubon Society (YAAS) invites area residents to participate in the 116th annual National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count, during the holiday season.  Begun in 1900, this birding tradition now takes place between Monday, December 14 and Tuesday, January 5 in more than 1,500 locations throughout the Americas. 

Dates for local counts: 
Friday, December 18, for the Oakhurst CBC
Saturday, December 19, for the Mariposa CBC
Sunday, December 20, for the Yosemite CBC
Wednesday, December 30, for the Merced National Wildlife Refuge CBC.  

Visit YosemiteAudubon.org for additional information, including the contact person and meeting location for each count and a listing of other nearby CBCs.

Similarly to Defenders of Wildlife, the mission of the National Audubon Society, the namesake of noted 19th-century naturalist and bird painter John James Audubon; its state affiliate, Audubon California; and local chapters such as the Yosemite Area Audubon Society is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.

(Pictured above): Male black-headed Grosbeak native to California. Photo credit: Ashok Khosla

Article contributed by Len McKenzie