The December 20 event at The Irvine Ranch Outdoor Education Center is part of the world’s most significant citizen-based conservation effort
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PRURGENT
ORANGE, Calif. – December 1, 2009 - The Irvine Ranch Outdoor Education Center is now seeking volunteers to participate in the 110th Annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. On December 20, starting at 5:15 a.m., volunteers at The Irvine Ranch Outdoor Education Center, located at 2 Irvine Park Road in Orange, will count and record all the birds they see as part of what is now considered to be the world's most significant citizen-based conservation effort, according to Audubon California. This is the fourth year that The Irvine Ranch Outdoor Education Center has participated with the Sea & Sage Audubon Society Orange County Northeastern Christmas Bird Count.
Members of the public—ages 13 and older—are invited to volunteer. To request more information and pre-register with The Irvine Ranch Outdoor Education Center, call 800-436-2119.
“This year we expect to count the barn owl that is reported to live in and around Irvine Regional Park,” says Christine Kirk, outdoor education programs director for The Irvine Ranch Outdoor Education Center. “In years past, we have seen an increase in the number of owls, especially screech owls, around and adjacent to our property. Hopefully, we also will count a great horned owl.”
Because this is the fourth year in which The Irvine Ranch Outdoor Education Center will participate in the Orange County Northeastern Christmas Bird Count, organizers anticipate identifying and reporting trends in bird counts.
“Screech owl numbers will vary from year to year depending on what is happening in the habitat that surrounds The Irvine Ranch Outdoor Education Center,” Kirk adds. “The barn owl has been reported by several people who bird in the local area, and a great horned owl has been spotted on many nights during evening activities here.”
The Christmas Bird Count gives volunteers the unique opportunity to help track the residential birds in Orange County. The effort continues to be a vital part of monitoring the status of resident and migratory birds across the Western Hemisphere. The data collected during Audubon’s Annual Christmas Bird Count is 100 percent volunteer generated and becomes part of the scientific community’s natural history monitoring database.
The 2009 Orange County Northeastern Christmas Bird Count will encompass Irvine Lake, Silverado Canyon, Mission Viejo, Lake Forest and the surrounding foothills. This year, organizers expect more than 100 Christmas Bird Counts to be completed in December and January throughout California.
According to Audubon California, the Christmas Bird Count began over a century ago when 27 conservationists in 25 localities, led by scientist and writer Frank Chapman, changed the course of ornithological history. On Christmas Day in 1900 the small group posed an alternative to the “side hunt,” a Christmas Day activity in which teams competed to see who could shoot the most birds and small mammals. Instead, Chapman proposed to identify, count and record all the birds they saw.
For information regarding other Orange County Christmas Bird Count sites, please go to: www.seaandsageaudubon.org.
Count results from 1900 to the present are available through Audubon's website www.audubon.org/bird/cbc.
About Sea & Sage Audubon Society
Sea & Sage Audubon is a leader in creating an understanding of nature in Orange County, through conservation, research and environmental education programs for children and adults. This is accomplished with classes, field activities, publications and volunteer opportunities. For more information, call 949-261-7963 or go to www.seaandsageaudubon.org.
About The Irvine Ranch Outdoor Education Center
The Irvine Ranch Outdoor Education Center is a 501c3 non-profit organization owned and operated by the Orange County Council, Boy Scouts of America for the benefit of all youth organizations. It provides schools and youth organizations a local and more affordable venue for overnight outdoor education and day trips at a new, eco-friendly facility featuring three unique camps—Astronomy Camp, Ranch Camp and Mining Camp. It was developed to provide local youth the opportunity to learn about the Southern California natural environment through first-hand wilderness experiences above, at and below ground level and to teach environmental awareness, conservation and leadership along with science, history and local cultures. The Irvine Ranch Outdoor Education Center is located at the end of Jamboree Road adjacent to Irvine Regional Park at 2 Irvine Park Road in Orange. For more information please call 800-436-2119 or go to: www.outdooreducationcenter.org.
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Editor’s Note: To arrange an interview with Christine Kirk or request photography, contact Donna St. Jean Conti at 949-290-0622 or DConti StContiCommunications.com.
Media Contacts:
Lära Fisher
larafocbsa.org
949-350-4027
Donna St. Jean Conti, APR
DContiStContiCommunications.com
949-290-0622
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