The Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count is a beloved local tradition.
Every December the Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC), as holiday lights twinkle across Hilton Head Island, another kind of sparkle fills the air, the flash of wings, the rustle of feathers, and the songs of hundreds of birds marking their winter stay.
It’s the season for the Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC), one of the world’s oldest and largest citizen-science projects. Between December 14 and January 5, volunteers across the Island join birders nationwide to record every feathered visitor they can find. With over a century of data available through the National Audubon Society, the CBC provides a remarkable window into how bird populations and the environments they rely on have changed over time.
The Christmas Bird Count began in 1900 as a gentle protest against the era’s “Christmas side hunt,” when people competed to shoot as many birds as possible. Instead, conservationists proposed counting birds rather than hunting them. Since then, the CBC has grown to cover most of the Western Hemisphere, with more than 2,600 count circles, each a 15-mile diameter area surveyed on a single day between December 14 and January 5.
On Hilton Head, the Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count typically takes place near the start of this period.
It covers Hilton Head, Pinckney, and Daufuskie Islands, as well as surrounding waterways and parts of Bluffton, extending to Palmetto Bluff and the Colleton River Club. During the 24-hour count, 21 Area Captains lead teams of birders, photographers, and record keepers of all experience levels. From marshes and tidal creeks to backyard feeders, every sighting contributes to a vast dataset that tracks bird populations, migration patterns, and environmental changes across the hemisphere.
Hilton Head is rich in avian diversity, with nearly 200 species regularly found across marshes, forests, coastal shores, and waterways. It has recorded over 350 species historically. Typical sightings include shorebirds like Semipalmated Plovers, Dunlins, and Willets, wading birds such as Egrets, Herons, and White Ibis, and raptors, including Osprey and Bald Eagles.
Over several years, the count usually records 130–150 species and tens of thousands of individual birds.
Totals can vary depending on weather, population shifts, and a little luck. In 2024, the Hilton Head CBC tallied 27,824 individual birds across 144 species, recorded by 327 participants, including 251 field observers in 77 teams and 76 feeder watchers. The CBC provides not only a snapshot of wintering birds but also vital long-term data for scientists tracking population trends. Anyone, beginner or expert, can participate in the field or from home feeders and become part of this meaningful conservation tradition.
The next Hilton Head Christmas Bird Count will take place on Monday, December 15, 2025, and everyone is invited to join. Register online at www.hiltonheadaudubon.org to participate as a recorder, spotter, or photographer alongside an experienced team, or as a Feeder Watcher counting birds right from your backyard. No matter your experience level, your observations help scientists monitor bird populations and protect the natural beauty that makes Hilton Head a special haven for wildlife.
By: Master Naturalist, Kathleen McMenamin. Outdoor Recreation Director of the Island Rec Center
