Spotted Towhee
The Intro
Most bird watching folks have been on, or at least heard of the Christmas Bird Count (CBC). This count, believe it or not, does not fall on Christmas day. "Why?" you ask. The concept of this count is to take a snapshot of the birds in any given area throughout North America in a specific time frame, not just one specific day. A group of folks that are deemed citizen scientists head out with their binoculars and tally of all of the birds they have seen in the area they have been tasked to search. At the end of the day, over a cup of hot chocolate, or something stronger, the numbers are combined and are then sent to Audubon for compilation. Anyone can join a Christmas Bird Count and I highly recommend that you make it out this year to be a part of something that has been more than a century in the making. Let me tell you more about it.