Brief History of the Eugene Christmas Bird Count

By Dick Lamster, 12/19/25

The very first ECBC was held on December 25, 1912! One person, Harriet Thomson, reported seeing 15 species and 377 individual birds!

Thirty years later, during the second ECBC December 27, 1942, 46 species and 2,210 individual birds were recorded. Unfortunately, the 1943 ECBC was not recognized by the National Audubon Society so is not included in our list of Counts. In the recognized third ECBC on December 31, 1944, 30 birders saw 60 species and 3,232 individual birds. From 1944 to the present, an ECBC has taken place every year. Our most recent, in December 2025, was the 84th ECBC!

The organization sponsoring the Count varied in the early years. From 1944 to 1974, the Eugene Natural History Society was the sponsor. For the next five years, from 1975 to 1979, the Southern Willamette Ornithological Club (SWOC) took over. Lane County Audubon Society became the sponsor in 1980 and has continued to the present under its new name, Coast to Cascades Bird Alliance.

The big job of compiling Count results has been taken on by 17 individuals over the years. Their names, (minus 3 unknown), are listed in chronological order followed by the number of years they compiled.

Harriet Thomson – 1

Gordon Gullion – 2

Ruth Hopson – 3

Ben Pruitt – 9

Lawrence Daggett – 3

Margaret Markley – 1

Don Payne – 4

Irene Flynn – 1

Allen Larrabee – 1

Larry McQueen – 6

Dan Gleason and Chip Jobanck
(Co-Compilers) – 1

Dan Gleason and Steve Gordon
(Co-Compilers) – 6

Alan Contreras and Steve Gordon
(Co-Compilers) – 1

Herb Wisner – 19

Dick Lamster – 20

Vjera Thompson – 1

Unknown – 3

Total: 84 years

A Smattering of Statistics

Most species seen: 139 in 2005.

Past 20-year average: 133*

Most individual birds seen: 357,948 in 2019. However, 270,000 were European Starlings.

Second highest number seen was 126,930 in 2013.

Average number of birds seen: 85,366 (not counting 2019*)

*The extremely high number of starlings seen in 2019 would severely skew a 20-year average, so the average number listed here is only for 19 years of the past 20-year period, omitting 2019.

Participants

Highest number of Field Counters: 190 in 2023.

Average number of Field Counters in past 20 years: 144

Highest number of Home Counters: 122 in 2020.

Average number of Home Counters in past 20 years: 90.

Highest number of total participants: 291 in 2023.

Average number of total participants: 234.

For 18 of the past 20 years, the ECBC has been in the top 10 in number of participants of all the 2,500 Christmas Bird Counts! Impressive considering the comparatively much larger populations in some Count areas! ECBC’s participant numbers reached their highest rank (3rd) in 2008 and again in 2009.