Annual winter birding event hits 126th year

Published 1:30 am Friday, December 19, 2025

EVERETT — The year is almost over, so you know what that means — time to bird watch.

The Pilchuck Audubon Society invites all to the 126th annual Christmas Bird Count when bird enthusiasts of all kinds help contribute to decades of data about species across the Western Hemisphere. The Everett-Marysville count, organized by Scott Atkinson, takes place Dec. 27.

“This is a thing that brings, really, the whole community together,” Atkinson said Tuesday. “There’s one thing we can all agree on, and that’s birds are pretty neat.”

Once the clock strikes midnight, “everything counts” until midnight the next evening, Atkinson said. That’s 24 hours to see or hear any wild bird within a 15-mile circle that encompasses north Everett, Marysville, Tulalip, Hat Island, Lake Goodwin and parts of Arlington, Lake Stevens and the southernmost tip of Camano Island.

Those with a private residence within the area are particularly helpful, Atkinson said.

“They can simply watch if they have a bird feeder,” he said, “or if they want to walk their neighborhood, that’s great.”

Other participants are more intense. Some travel Centennial Trail on their bikes while teams of kayakers paddle toward Ebey Island. Atkinson said he would be out at 3 a.m. looking for owls.

“I encourage people, if they know the birds by sound, don’t take your time to look at each one because there’s not time,” he said. It’s a census that tracks how temperature and weather may be affecting the bird populations.

“It’s going to be real interesting to see how all the flooding and the abnormally warm temperatures that we’ve had, particularly over the last two weeks — it will be very interesting to see how that affects the birds,” he said.

For those interested in taking part, either call or text 425-210-2716 or email scottratkinson@hotmail.com.

Taylor Scott Richmond: 425-339-3046; taylor.richmond@heraldnet.com; X:@BTayOkay