The Christmas Bird Count has been conducted since 1900, an amazing 111 years. It is a bird-watching activity that took the place of a Christmas side hunt, an old holiday tradition where teams of hunters would compete to see who could kill the largest number of wild birds on Christmas Day. It took Frank Chapman to change the tide. In 1900 he proposed that instead of killing the birds, shooters and others would count rather than kill the birds in their area.

It has become a great way for birds of a feather to gather. Bird-watchers brave the elements to go out from dawn to dusk and count the birds seen in their count area. The results are now available online as well as being published sometimes by American Bird Association but mainly by the National Audubon Society. The results of these counts are used for research and to develop plans to help bird conservation.

In 1900 25 Christmas bird counts took place and the results were published in a periodical called Bird Lore. Since then, the National Audubon Society has become the sponsor and it has grown into an amazing annual event.

The Vineyard did not get involved with the Christmas Bird Count until 1949. That year most of the participants were from off-Island and the count was probably organized by Mona Warden. The only other Vineyard names that appeared in that group were William (Bill) Leigh, Mrs. Stanley Poole and Elizabeth Goodale. Between dawn and dusk of the day they chose, the birders had spotted 63 species. During the count period they had seen nine other species. Count period at that time was a week before and a week after count day. There were no further Christmas counts on the Island until 1952. No Islanders were listed as participants. The team birded for two days, probably because they would not be able to remain for the whole count period. They came up with a total of 66 species.

In 1960 the Vineyard began to participate. Allan R. Keith submitted a point which was the center of the circle which the Christmas Bird Count birders were to cover, a 15-mile diameter. Unfortunately almost half of the circle was located offshore and Gay Head (today Aquinnah) and Chappaquiddick were not included. The early years of the official count were done only within these boundaries, but over the years the compilers and participants expanded their territory to include the whole Island and Chappaquiddick. The Vineyard is an entity unto itself and the comparison of bird populations year after year was important to those studying the avian changes.

During Allan’s tenure Island birders tallied 97 species. In 1965 Elizabeth Goodale took over organizing and compiling the Vineyard’s Christmas Bird Count. Elizabeth started the tradition of providing a delicious corn chowder lunch where we all gathered to compare notes and decide what species we had missed and plan the afternoon strategy. Each year new species were added and the excitement of seeing them egged the birders on. When a snowy owl or black-headed gull was found it was an incentive to return the following year. Under Elizabeth Goodale’s leadership the competition factor came into play. The Vineyard count racked up an amazing 109 species, making it the second highest count in Massachusetts in 1970, topped only by Cape Cod which had long taken the laurels. The Vineyarders had a few interesting species that year including blue-winged teal, lesser yellowlegs, 30 tree swallows, four dickcissels and three Baltimore orioles.

The first year I participated in the count was 1973; we had an all-female team and were trying to beat Gus Ben David’s all-male team. I remember an article in the Gazette that George Moffett wrote where he quoted Gus as saying if Sue Whiting’s team beats ours we will never hear the end of it. The gals didn’t beat Gus’s team that year, but I think we did in later years. In 1974 we broke our old record of 109 by finding 110 species including goshawks and black-headed gulls.

From 1977 to 1981 Gus Ben David, with Andrea Hartman as his assistant, took over the Christmas Bird Count. In 1980 the Vineyard broke its own record again by tallying 113 species including a Brewer’s blackbird, a rose-breasted grosbeak and a vesper sparrow.

I became the count compiler in 1981 and that year we counted 119 species, thanks to a good deal of help from a crew of off-Island birders I invited to join us. They were lured by my husband Flip Harrington’s oyster or venison stew and the camaraderie at a dinner the night before the count. We continued to include what we called “ringers” from off-Island to join our local birders who knew the habitat well, but might not have been as knowledgeable as our off-Island ornithologists. We had the honor of birding with Kathleen Anderson, the head of the Manomet Bird Observatory, Peter Alden from Massachusetts Audubon and Wayne and Betty Peterson. Wayne is the coauthor of Birds of Massachusetts and he and Betty work with the American Birding Association, leading the Birder’s Exchange providing new and used binoculars to Latin American birders. Blair Nikula and Peter Trimble, both excellent birders also joined us from Cape Cod. Peter brought his 11 and a half-year-old son Jeremiah in 1990. Jeremiah is now the curatorial associate-ornithology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University.

In 1984 the Vineyarders tallied 121 species, again with the help of great birders from on and off-Island. We had beaten Nantucket, Buzzard’s Bay and finally Cape Cod and along the way had collected great information for National Audubon and ourselves. We were beginning to see fewer of certain species.

In 1989 we were able to best our previous record and tallied 125. One species was not accepted by the CBC board (a broad-winged hawk) but we still broke the previous record with 124 species, including tundra swans, snow goose, Cooper’s hawks and rusty and Brewer’s blackbirds.

In 1990 I took on Whit Manter as my cocompiler and he basically ran the count that year and the following two years. During Whit’s term we added black-throated blue warbler to our list, but his most striking addition was the long-awaited tufted titmouse which was seen first on the Vineyard count in 1992. This perky bird could be seen in Woods Hole in great numbers, but had not been seen on the Vineyard. Now, many years later, the tufted titmouse is seen in good numbers in all Vineyard towns save Aquinnah.

In 1993 Rob Culbert took the reigns and has been the compiler of the Christmas Bird Count ever since. Records continued to be broken. In 1995 we tallied 128 species, in 1998 129 and in 2003 and 2007 we broke into the next level with 130. Being the compiler is a good deal of work. Rob continued the great combination of local birders mixed with off-Islanders. He has, with the help of Penny Uhlendorf, found special places to hold our wrap-ups. Penny introduced us to good local clam chowder, Brazilian food for a couple of years and Italian another. Rob computerized the Vineyard Christmas Bird Count. The first year it was a bit slow, but now it is a terrific time-saver for the compiler and also results in a form that is very useful for those doing research on the Vineyard bird population.

The total for this year was 118 species compared to 116 in 2009. One might think this low, but we think it was very respectable considering the weather. Counters were stymied by thick fog and drizzle. We could not see offshore, and without sun the land birds tended to stay deep in the bush. We had an exciting new bird, not only for the Vineyard count, but also for the Island. See the bird news on Page Sixteen in today’s edition for more details.

This year we were pleased to have three members of the younger generation join us: Katie Anne Mayhew, Charlie Morano and Walter Greene. They came with parents or aunts and were all sharp as tacks. Katie Anne’s musical ear gave her the ability to hear bird calls which was a great asset for my team; Charlie has been birding with his father and Vern Laux for several years and is a fine young birder. Walter and his father, Richard, join Lanny McDowell annually and each year Walter adds more to the team.

We hope you will all join us some year. It is great fun, educational and a resource for scientists near and far. If you do not wish to brave the elements you can report the birds visiting your feeder the day of the count. The feeder count is every much as important as the field teams!

Susan Whiting is an author and natural history expert who writes the Bird News for the Vineyard Gazette. She lives in Chilmark.