The Audubon Christmas Bird Count has been going on for over 100 years. During the CBC, participants drive, hike, climb and even wade to get to the best birding sites to add to their totals. But they never leave land.

This year, the “SeaBC” Sea Bird Count (not affiliated with Audubon) plans to fix that. Avid birders and boaters will take to their watercraft during the month of December, tally the species they see, and enter their data on eBird, the citizen science bird database run by Audubon and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. If it catches on, it could add a valuable new source of citizen science data on sea-faring birds.

The program is organized by Diana Doyle, author of Managing the Waterway, a cruising guide and electronic charting series. She already rallies the troops at Birding Aboard, a Facebook page dedicated to bird watching during long-distance voyages.

Learn more about the SeaBC at Birding Aboard, or jump straight to the SeaBC resources page where you can download a tally sheet.

Read more about the project on the Vermont Center for Ecostudies blog. (Keep scrolling down. It’s in the middle of a bunch of birding news.)

Photos: Wilson’s Storm-petrel. Photo by Diana Doyle. 
Some cruisers taking the dinghy for some birding in Venezuela. Photo by Devi Sharp
Both photos courtesy of SeaBC and Birding Aboard.