'Tis the season for the Christmas Bird Count

This isn't your typical holiday tradition, but it might become your favourite! The Christmas Bird Count runs from December 14th to January 5th each year.  It is a long-running program that helps researchers get a grasp on how the bird populations are faring across the western hemisphere.  Yousif Attia joins the podcast to help us understand the significance of the CBC for both the participants and the birds. Plus he shares tips for how you too, can turn this into a winter tradition. No eggnog required!

Join a CBC with Birds Canada, or if you're tuning in from outside of Canada, visit Audubon for locations near you. 

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Yousif Attia grew up watching birds and exploring the wilds of central and southern Alberta since he and his family immigrated there when he was four years old, he is now settled on the Fraser Estuary on the West Coast of BC. Yousif has worn many hats over the years at Birds Canada, including work on species-at-risk in southern Ontario, field surveys in the boreal including the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas-2, and managed the Long Point Bird Observatory where he eventually became a North American Banding Council certified trainer. Yousif is now part of a team at Birds Canada that coordinates the Christmas Bird Count and eBird in Canada, and another that develops content on the website.  Follow on @ysattia or @biophylia

Andrea Gress studied Renewable Resource Management at the University of Saskatchewan. She pivoted towards birds, after an internship in South Africa. Upon returning, she worked with Piping Plovers in Saskatchewan and now coordinates the Ontario Piping Plover Conservation Program for Birds Canada. Follow her work at @ontarioplovers