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Freeze-birding down the Danube

10,000 Birds

Yeah, right. The only mammals of the day were feral Nutrias (Coypus), aquatic rodents originally from southern South America released from the bankrupt fur-farms and well established here. I am checking for darker heads and necks, but the sunset is taking over… “How do you manage to tell them apart,” I ask him.

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What is the Christmas Bird Count?

10,000 Birds

That’s right! The National Audubon Society tells the story best: Prior to the turn of the century, people engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas “Side Hunt”: They would choose sides and go afield with their guns; whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won.