**I wrote this poem during the wet wet wet Sauvie Island CBC on Sunday, Dec
16 on the Vancouver side of the count. The new bird of course was the
Long-tailed Duck we found.

We went on a birding guest
Count all day and never rest
Hike in water up to your hips
Swearing words upon your lips.

A mallard here, a sparrow there
All this rain, it's just not fair
20 thousand canada geese
Will this counting never cease?

I hate birding in the rain
Chrsitmas Bird Counts are a pain
Ducks and wrens and robins too
I have other things to do.

Remember your bed, how nice and warm?
To bird in rain, I was not born.
Christmas Bird Count not my thing
Unless the sun takes out the sting

Glad this comes but once a year
Wow! a new bird, it's time to cheer.
Hope that next year is sunny & bright
Or to Florida, I might take flight.

Sherry Hagen
littlebirder at yahoo.com