Our friend Cathy Miller has posted a fantastic description of the Dewees Island Christmas Bird Count. Her blog, pluffmudperspectives, describes our whole day and strategy. She is very generous in her descriptions of the teamwork on the island and the hospitality, and her bird photos are fantastic! And, with all the teamwork, we managed a record 89 species this year! Click here to read the whole post on the Charleston Audubon Blog, and make plans to join us for next year’s count! Every time I bird with the Millers, Aaron, and the other Audubon volunteers like Ann and Carl, I learn more: about birding AND about photography.

You will really enjoy Cathy’s descriptions of the island and the day, and her fantastic photos! And if you are participating in this year’s Big Year Contest, you’ll get ideas about where to find which birds! Here’s a tiny sample:

Carl and I were delighted to be returning to bird with our friends and to see the beautiful natural barrier island landscape that this sea island community protects… After a few e-mail exchanges on some photographic evidence, we determined in the end that we had done very well, indeed! Although individual bird numbers seemed lower, our species count was high — 89 species! — the highest count since I became the designated leader of this territory in December 2008! It is also the highest count for any of the Charleston CBC territories this year. The credit goes to the great teamwork! Thank you everyone on the Dewees team! Your participation was significant to this count!

While it is true that a little competitive spirit helps to bring more fun to the adventure, I would like to say to all participants in bird counts that your volunteerism is important to the overall ecological health of our natural communities. We should always remember, as I pointed out to the ladies on the beach, each count provides valuable data to the scientists tracking them, and the analysis thereof informs the conservation efforts required to sustain our natural resources. Bravo to all! Let’s go birding!