Birds at Christmas: An accounting

Wondering what that bird is that's eating your papayas?

And whose melodious call drifts through the garden?

Or which green bird is hopping through that 'ōhi'a tree on your forest hike?

(Photo: A pair of 'alae 'ula, or Hawaiian moorhens. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service photo.)

The Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count provides an essentially free (you may need to pay $5 to join Audubon) opportunity to learn about birds. It's open to veteran birders and rank beginners alike—so if you're in the latter category, the century-old bird count is a chance to get a free seminar in bird identification.

The society's 108^th national count (the 63^rd in Hawai'i) will be conducted in Hawai'i from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5.

For more information on the web see www.hawaiiaudubon.com/xmas.html for the Hawai'i count, and nationally, www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/.

Attached below is the schedule and island-by-island contact information, clipped from the Hawai'i Audubon site.

© 2007 Jan W. TenBruggencate

Island	Date	Coordinator	phone/email
O`ahu
Honolulu	Sun 12/16	Arlene Buchholz	808-988-9806 (snovakz@juno.com)
Waipi`o	Sat 01/05	David Bremer	623-7613 (bremerd001@hawaii.rr.com)
Kaua`i
*Waimea	Sat 12/22	Michelle Ho`okano Koke`e Natural History Museum	808-335-9975 (kokee@aloha.net)
Hanalei	TBA	Brenda Zaun	808-828-1413 (Brenda_zaun@fws.gov)
Maui
Pu`u O Kaka`e (East)	TBA	Jennifer Higashino	(jenn@maui.net)
`Iao Valley (West)	TBA	Jennifer Higashino	(jenn@maui.net)
Moloka`i
Kalaupapa	Mon 12/17	Arleone Dibben-Young	808-553-5992 (nene@aloha.net)
Hawai`i Island
Volcano	12/15	Eldridge Naboa	(enaboa@tnc.org)
North Kona	1/3	Nick Mitchell	808-322-2735

*A Bird Identification meeting will be held on December 19. Call the Koke`e Natural History Museum at (808) 335-9975 for more information.