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December 29, 2006
107th Annual Christmas Bird Count
Coopers Hawk - Photo by Richard Schier
Yesterday I was out for a walk on the Tennessee Riverpark, and met a fellow named Dick Schier taking photographs of birds using a digital camera and a spotting scope. This practice is commonly referred to as digiscoping. Dick is a recent retiree who is new to birding. He also mentioned that he's been doing a lot of hiking/walking in his pursuit of birds over the last 6 months. The photo of the Coopers Hawk above is one taken by Dick. I have a feeling that Dick will be taking some amazing photos in 2007 with his brand new spotting scope! I hope to feature some of those images here on this website - thanks to Dick's generous offer to share his work with American Hiking Society!
Speaking of birds, I'll be participating in the Audubon Christmas Count here in the Chattanooga area. I'll be joined by a couple of other members of the Tennessee Ornithological Society. Although we probably won't spend too much time on hiking trails, we'll start before sunrise, and go all day looking to identify and count as many individual birds from as many different species as possible. The final tally should be upwards of 70 species. Last year we had 4 different species of owls (Barn, Bared, Great Horned & Eastern Screech), with three species calling simultaneously! I'll post a full listing of the birds that we find on our count here tomorrow.
If you have a favorite trail where you like to view birds, please use the comment form below, and tell us about the places where you like to connect with the natural world.
Conservation | By Jeffrey Hunter | 8:00 PM
