Crow	17		Chickadee	19
Prairie hen	8		Bluejay	7
Downy woodpecker	2		Tree sparrow	1
White-breasted nuthatch	1

"Prairie hen" presumably refers to the prairie-chicken, a once-plentiful bird that is now endangered in most states due to the destruction of its grassland habitat. Browsing through the early counts gives a glimpse of local bird life at a time when there was much more open space — 20 "prairie hens" in Chicago in 1906, and hundreds of birds of open country throughout the region — Lapland and McCown's longspurs, horned larks, and "snowflakes" (snow buntings).

Christmas count data from the last 99 years is now available on BirdSource. According to John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, the second hundred years of the count may be dramatically different from the first: "The new technology we are developing will revolutionize the way we use Christmas count data. We hope to allow any user to perform his or her own sophisticated analyses of population trends and bird movements through our website. The work of the citizen scientist will contribute to a powerful and immediate tool for bird conservation."

For many, the chief reward from participating in the count is the countdown dinner. At the end of the day, cold and weary birders file into a warm and friendly place — a restaurant or home of a bird club member — to tell their stories. All gather after dinner, as the compiler goes through the list of birds, from the most common to the least, adds up the counts of the parties, and compares the total to previous years. At the end of the evening, the greatest prizes are revealed — a golden eagle, perhaps, or a yellow-breasted chat — birds that have rarely, or never, been recorded in that count circle.

Here are some stories from local Christmas counters, in honor of the 100th count:

Chuck Westcott, compiler for the Barrington count from its inception in 1964 until 1995:
"Cold winter weather is, of course, anticipated, but three years were particularly brutal. January 1, 1969, December 17, 1979, and December 19, 1983, all brought sub-zero temperatures. In 1969, the 15-20 mph winds lowered the effective temperature to around minus 40šŠtears running down cheeks actually froze and the only ones with warm feet were those wearing electric socks. I've been asked, 'Why go out in the winter's bitter cold to count birds?' For me it's the challenge of pitting one's self against the elements."

David Johnson, a member of the Illinois Ornithological Records Commitee and a participant in about 100 counts:
"Perhaps my favorite CBC season ever was in '77-78 when pine grosbeaks invaded Illinois. In Cook County at the Dam #1 Woods, while participating in the Evanston North Shore count, John Hockman and I watched two pine grosbeaks eating ash seeds along the Des Plaines River. I have NEVER seen a pine grosbeak in Cook County since. That year I chased down two Bohemian waxwings in Lake Forest that were reported on the Evanston count. I saw one, and that was my Illinois lifer!"

Al Stokie of Park Ridge recalls his most memorable count:
"December 25, 1991 started off like any other Christmas Day. For me, that means driving to Chicago's Montrose Harbor to take part in the annual lakefront Christmas count. My group consisted of Kanae Hirabayashi, Jeff Sanders, Eric Walters, and me. Jeff and Eric went to view the gulls in the harbor while Kanae and I walked along the rocks bordering Lake Michigan hoping to add a duck species or two. While walking, we noticed a strange white bird standing on the rocks. "Its head sort of looks like a pigeon," said Kanae. It was a first winter ivory gull. Still, I wondered. I called out to Eric and Jeff, who hurried over and shouted, 'It's an ivory gull!' The gull disappeared over the lake, but went on to become a celebrity when Richard Biss rediscovered it at Burnham Harbor on the Sunday after Christmas. Hundreds of people from all over got to see the gull. It even had a feature role in at least two newspaper articles and several short segments on Chicago television stations."

Sheryl DeVore, assistant editor of Chicago WILDERNESS and editor of Meadowlark:
"1988 marked my first Christmas Bird Count, and I had no idea what to expect. I spent the first hour climbing under and over bushes, dodging thorns and having near collisions with trees, looking for a northern saw-whet owl that never appeared. "I found cedar waxwings, a tufted titmouse, and even a rough-legged hawk that day."