Christmas bird & salamander counts – an old and new Birmingham Audubon tradition

Now, Birmingham Audubon Society has two great traditions during the Christmas season.

Along with the Birmingham Audubon Society’s (BAS) 81st Annual Christmas Bird Count, the organization held it’s first Christmas Salamander Count on the same day – December 23rd – at Ruffner Mountain.

The photographs and the postbelow are from the BAS facebook page describe the results from both events:

Salamander Count Facebook post

The Birmingham Audubon Citizen Science Corps held our first Christmas Salamander Count at Ruffner Mountain today. Even with the recent drought, we documented 25 salamanders of 4 species. We even came across a congress of Eastern spotted newts! Friends from Turkey Creek Nature Preserve joined in the fun. #citizenscience #getoutside #BhamAudubon

Birmingham Audubon 81st Annual Bird Count Facebook report post

Some of Birmingham Audubon Society‘s best birders were hard at work from sunup to sundown today, ranging across the city and collecting data for our 81st Annual Christmas Bird Count. After dark, they met up at a longtime member’s home to go over and “compile” their results.

Preliminary data are in for 81 species, with lower numbers for some of our common winter flocking birds—possibly an effect of this year’s record-breaking drought. Reports from individual feeders are still coming in, so the numbers may change a bit over the next few days.

Bham Now applauds Birmingham Audubon Society’s dedication to our natural wonders on the ground and in the sky!