CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT

When December rolls around, it is time for the annual Christmas Bird Count, the longest running citizen-science project in the world. You are invited to participate! Veteran birder and counter Josh Covill will present an extraordinary program at the regular FAS meeting on Monday, 9 December at the Gateway West Conference Room in Kalispell. Josh’s program will focus on likely birds to be seen, identification tips and counting techniques. He may even have some predictions on new additions to the lists.

Two large counts dominate the Flathead. The Bigfork Count will be held on Saturday, 14 December. Craig Hohenberger is the compiler for the Bigfork CBC. He will be at the FAS meeting to assign people to areas in the Bigfork circle. For those that cannot make the meeting, please call Craig at 890-1629 or meet him that the Flathead Lake Brewery at 8 AM on the morning of the count. At the end of a long day, we will gather at the Flathead Lake Brewery at 5 PM to eat, drink and recap the highlights of your day.

The other large count is the Kalispell, compiled by Pete Fisher. Sign-ups will be available at the regular FAS meeting or you can contact Pete at fisherpete88@yahoo.com or 406-250-9624. We will meet on Sunday, 29 December at the 4B’s restaurant (formerly Finnegan’s) at 7 AM for last minute assignments and coordination. We will meet for a summary and festivities at Brannigan’s at 5 PM that night.

Information about other counts in the area will be available at the FAS meeting.