On Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010, the Audubon Society of the District of Columbia
will be hosting our 12th Annual C & O Canal Midwinter Bird Count covering
all of the miles of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical
Park from mile 0 in Georgetown up to mile 184.5 in Cumberland, MD.  We are
grateful for the many volunteers that take the same miles year after year,
but we do have a few open miles that need coverage.

Here are the miles that are open.

 7, 8 and 9 - Glen Echo area of MD.
54 and 55 in Brunswick - volunteers signed up but looking for help.
100, 101, 102, and 103
113, 114, and 115
124 and 125
134 and 135
167, 168, and 169

You can go and count your birds any time on the day of Jan. 23. (The weekend
after Martin Luther King Holiday) Jan. 24 is our bad weather day in case of
ice or bad snow.  I also like this web site so you can see what to expect
mile by mile and how to access the miles.  Some places a car at both ends
isn't likely and backtracking is the only way to go.
http://bikewashington.org/canal/ ; Or, you'll have more miles to cover that
you are not counting and will just have to walk an not count to get a few
more miles out to another access point.

You can see the data from previous years at http://www.dcaudubon.org/canal.

If you are unfamiliar with how all of this works - it is much like the
Christmas counts, except we break out the count mile by mile on separate
forms or sheets.
for example, if you were to volunteer for mile 7, 8 and 9, then you would
start at Mile 7 on the canal.  Each mile is marked by a wooden marker on the
tow path along the canal.  Look for mile 7 and begin counting the number and
species of each bird seen or heard between mile 7 to mile 8.  Then begin a
new tally sheet for mile 8 to mile 9, and another new sheet for mile 9 to
10.  We count the birds on the Potomac which is easy to scan from most
places on on the towpath, and birds in the trees, scrub and grasses along
the tow path as well.

If you would like to sign up to take some miles - please send us an email at




-- 
Denise Ryan
Cheverly, MD