North American Migration Counts

The NORTH AMERICAN MIGRATION COUNT (NAMC) actually consists of TWO annual counts: one in the spring (second Saturday in May) and another in the fall (third Saturday in September). Dates for the 2005 NAMCs are May 14 for the spring count and September 17 for the fall count. The rules are simple: spend a day in the field counting birds in a specified area, and keep track of hours & miles by foot, car, boat, or feeder watching. The area for any one count is not a 15-mile diameter circle (as in Christmas Bird Counts), but an entire county. And, unlike Christmas Bird Counts, which are spread over several weeks, a NAMC is conducted on just a SINGLE DAY across the entire 48 states.

During a NAMC, the idea is simple: cover as many habitat types as possible to get at least an indication of presence/absence of a species. Ideally, coverage should be proportional to the area of the habitat in the county.

Each County Coordinator should tabulate the results for their COUNTY, making sure that observers have reported hours and miles and supplied to your satisfaction details for unusual sightings. County Coordinators should send their results to the State Coordinator (Lee McNeely). In addition, four separate lists are tallied:

• STATIONARY: For cases where the observer stays in ONE place and counts birds which are mostly migrating by [e.g., a hawkwatch].

 
• FEEDER: Those observers who attract birds to their yard and do ALL of their observations in or near their yard.

 
• REGULAR: This is the most common list; it contains all of the birds found dawn-to-dusk (or any time you have available) by observers who are moving from place to place (i.e., by foot, car, or boat. In general, the observers move and count birds which are more-or less stationary.

 
• NIGHT: Those birds seen or heard before dawn and after dusk.

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