Spohrer Photograph Honored by Audubon Society

Once again local nature photographer John Spohrer has been honored for his outstanding work.

Spohrer's portrait of a Sprague's Pipit, taken at the Apalachicola Regional Airport during the 2007 Christmas Bird Count was chosen as the cover picture for the Audubon Society's publication summarizing the annual birding event.

The caption for the picture reads, "Sprague's Pipits are skulkers of the grasslands, and it is rare to appreciate the subtle beauty of such birds given how hard they are to see. Normally found in the southwest and Mexico, this beautifully photographed example was one of two found this season at Apalachicola Bay - St. Vincent, Florida."

The bird count is a worldwide bird census, coordinated by the National Audubon Society, performed annually by volunteer birders. The purpose is to provide population data for use in science, especially conservation biology, though many people participate for recreation.

Local participants had a rare opportunity to visit locations like St. Vincent's Island and Little St. George Island and spend a day taking a closer look at these natural wonders. In addition to birding, teams observed other native plants and animals, with time for shelling, hiking and just fooling around.

At the end of the day, the teams met at the headquarters of the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve to compare finds and share a victory supper.

The tradition of a Christmas count dates back to the turn of the 19th century.

At one time, many North Americans participated in the tradition of Christmas "side hunts," in which they competed to see who could kill the most animals, including birds. The hunt was purely for sport, and the animals were often discarded unused. Any bird, including the beneficial, beautiful, and rare, was fair game.

U.S. ornithologist Frank Chapman, one of the original officers in the National Audubon Society, proposed counting birds on Christmas, instead of killing them. In 1900, 27 observers took part in the first count in 25 places in the United States and Canada, 15 of them in the northeastern U.S. from Massachusetts to Philadelphia.

Since then the counts have been held every winter, usually with increasing numbers of observers. For instance, the 101st count, in the winter of 2000-2001, involved 52,471 people in 1,823 places in 17 countries.

If you would like to participate in this year's bird count, contact Alan Knothe at the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve 653-8063.