"The Christmas Bird Count is the world's oldest citizen-participation wildlife survey in the world. It goes back 114 years. In Minnesota, this will be our 106th year. The time frame is Dec. 14 through Jan. 5. What it is, people go out and look for and count birds for a day. Each count is run independently. Each count has its own leader, and citizens sign up separately for every count. There's a website where people can go to find counts all around the state (www.moumn.org/cbc). The ones around the Twin Cities are pretty crowded. The ones up in Pine County aren't as populated."

Mark Martell, director of bird conservation, Audubon Minnesota