Where: Lynchburg, VA
Notes:The holidays and Christmas Count Season are quickly descending upon the calendar. Soon it will be time to pull out the hand warmers, heavy coat, gloves, scarfs and stocking cap. A thermos of coffee, or hot chocolate, is a good stand by as well. Checklist, notebook, extra pencils, snacks and location maps, should round off the list to be ready to participate in a count or two. These counts have been intermittent parts of my birdwatching journey for decades. The camaraderie of this longest running citizen science project is complimented with fellowship, dinner tally events and of course birding. No other census is quite like it. Each designated site is indexed both by species and quantity of birds on a single day. The area is a fifteen mile diameter circle that is observed between December fourteenth and January fifth each year. The results are compiled and submitted for the day. Consider contacting your local birding organization to see when and where a count is scheduled in your area. This image was taken during my hometown bird club’s holiday fellowship event. The snowy conditions hardly slowed the attendance, birders are a hardy bunch. So it was a real treat to have The Virginia Wildlife Magazine us this image as part of an article on Christmas Counts in the November/December 2016 Issue (SEE: RECOGNITIONS). Thanks as always to the staff at Virginia WIldlife for sharing this photograph to a larger audience than I could have ever reached on my own.

Consider a subscription or as a gift: VA WILDLIFE MAGAZINE