Bohemian waxwings eating rowan berries, Whitefish, Montana, USA

In Sipoo, Finland, it’s said that winter doesn’t start until the waxwings have eaten all the rowan berries. With any luck, there are still some rowan berries left on this tree in Whitefish, Montana, so that the Bohemian waxwing birds will show up for the annual Christmas Bird Count.

If you take a stroll outside today, you may see volunteers with clipboards taking a census of birds in the area. Started by the Audubon Society in 1900, the Christmas Bird Count was crowdsourced before “crowdsourcing” was a term. Each year, the count begins on December 14 and runs to January 5. The information collected helps ornithologists track migration patterns and populations of birds throughout North America.