Dear Citizen Scientists, 

You're breaking new ground. There has never been a larger, more passionate or diverse community of citizen scientists working under Audubon's umbrella. From birding with you across the hemisphere to talking with you at Chapter meetings, I know how passionate you are and there's only one thing I can say: thanks.

You've broken participation records this year across all of our citizen science projects.

• Last holiday season you came out in record numbers to count birds for the 113th Christmas Bird Count. More than 70,000 of you joined 2,369 count circles besting the previous year's record of 63,227 counters across 2,248 circles. We sometimes take the CBC for granted. Here's a way to think about it: it's the longest-running animal census on the planet.
• And 104,000 of you kept the momentum going for our first all-digital Great Backyard Bird Count, increasing participation 55% over last year and counting more than 35 million individual birds in 107 countries around the world.
• This summer you proved your passion for birds when we launched a brand new citizen science initiative, Hummingbirds at Home. More than 8,000 people signed up and contributed 21,000 hummingbird and plant observations in the first year of the program. Hummingbirds at Home also marked the first time we've launched a digital app for a crowdscience project.

Thank you for these tremendous contributions to bird science. Each time you record a bird sighting you are contributing to more than a hundred years of data on bird populations that directly inform Audubon's conservation decisions. We couldn't do our work without you.

As the calendar turns to November, we are deep into preparation for the 114th Christmas Bird Count. I hope you'll join us again this year. Together we are protecting birds and their vital habitat.

David

 

David Yarnold
President and CEO
National Audubon Society