Atlantic puffins at the Maine Coastal National Wildlife Refuge near Acadia National Park/USFWS

Editor's note: This story will be updated when parks release their plans.

Armed with binoculars, spotting scopes, cameras, and notepads, and assisted by experts who immediately can tell the difference between a Western tanager and a goldfinch, or between a Downy woodpecker and its Hairy cousin, devoted birders across the hemisphere will be heading to plots with a 15-mile radius over the next three weeks to see what they can see during the 124th annual Christmas Bird Count.

Here's a current list of which parks that have announced events.

Indiana Dunes National Park, Indiana

On December 23rd get outside and have fun helping with the Christmas Bird Count and make an important contribution to conservation. Now a long-standing program of the National Audubon Society, marking 124 years of community science involvement, this count is an early-winter bird census, where thousands of volunteers across the United States and Canada go out over a 24-hour period to count birds. 

Indiana Dunes National Park will facilitate this count in the "INDW" birding circle. Places in the national park included in the circle area are Miller Woods, West Beach, Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk and Tolleston Dunes. Cities include portions of Gary, Hobart, Portage, Lake Station, Burns Harbor, Ogden Dunes and Merrillville. For the exact count circle area, go to the Audobon's Christmas Bird Count webpage. Volunteer birders will be assigned a location within the circle for that day, or they can do counts at their home bird feeders.  

All counters must sign up beforehand to be placed on the counters list, assigned an area to count and receive the proper count forms for data collecting. Contact park ranger Christine Gerlach to register or learn more. She can be reached by email. Sign-up deadline is December 21.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in cooperation with Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge is hosting the 2023 Christmas Bird Count from December 21 through December 23. The Park Service is calling for birders of all skill levels to come and join rangers for this fun, fascinating, and important event. The Christmas Bird Count is a National Audubon Society tradition in its 124th year and has occurred annually in Ajo since 1998.  

This event is not only a lot of fun but also very important, as it serves to further research and conservation efforts for bird species and habitat throughout the country, the park noted in a release. All those interested in participating are invited to a planning meeting at the Curley School Auditorium on Friday, December 15, at 2 p.m. At the meeting, representatives will establish groups and routes based on interest in specific areas and birding experience. Each circle has a 15-mile diameter in which volunteers record every bird they see or hear.  

This year’s count days are Thursday, December 21, for the Ajo area; Friday, December 22, for Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument; and Saturday, December 23, for Lukeville. Anyone who is interested and has a basic knowledge of Sonoran Desert birds is welcome to join. For more information, contact Matthew Wilcox e-mail the park or Samantha Gillette at Organ Pipe Cactus e-mail us.