There are only 18 days to the beginning of the 2002-3
Christmas Bird Count season.

I've a couple of recommendations that I hope to see
attempted this year.

Recognizable subspecies-
The new online data entry forms allow for a much wider
capacity for reporting recognizable forms within a species
complex. Fox Sparrow can be reported as Sooty, Slate-colored
or Red, now. Canada Geese, juncos and Yellow-rumps can all
be reported to subspecies. When editing, I find it interesting
how often Slate-colored Junco is report, compared to say...
Oregon Junco (which is left in the Dark-eyed Junco box).

No, you don't have to sort them, and no counting Myrtle
and Audubon's separately won't get you an additional tick
on the species count for the day, but distinctions at the
subspecific level provide useful information about winter
distribution.

Sharing resources-
By my count there are 89 counts in the region (this includes
some nearby counts in Idaho and British Columbia) and 34%
of them are happening in the first weekend. This leaves
some of you with nothing to do after the first weekend of
the season. Please consider doing more than one count
this year. There are many counts (especially those that
run on the weekdays) that run with a minimum of observers.
If you really want to feel loved and appreciated volunteer
to be on one of the smaller counts.

The CBC FAQ is at:
http://home.pacifier.com/~mpatters/cbc/cbc2002.html

--
Mike Patterson
CBC editor for Oregon and Washington
Astoria, OR
celata at pacifier.com