Fall Count

For the count, Howard County is divided up into the seven areas shown on the map.  Each area has an Area Coordinator who communicates with the counters, assigns territories, and compiles area results. If you are a beginner, ask to be teamed with a more experienced birder. Since the point is to tally every individual bird, your extra eyes and ears are helpful. If your time is not predictable for the Count, I encourage you to join a team or count as an individual in your yard or neighborhood for some time that day. If you decide to pursue this approach, please let us know of your intent and what constitutes your neighborhood.

Lily Saul (ljsaul604@gmail.com) and Chuck Stirrat (stirrcr1@gmail.com).

At the end of the day, all our counters are invited to a tally rally to share what was seen and come up with the county totals.  This year’s tally rally will be proceeded by a one hour in-person potluck starting at 6 p.m. at Cathy Hallam’s (BirderToo58@gmail.com), who can give you more information about what is needed. Area Coordinators will provide additional information. Unless you are still in the field, please try to submit your checklist to your Area Coordinator by the start of the tally rally at 7 p.m.

Area Coordinators

Area 1: Wes Earp wesandsue@gmail.com

Area 2: Russ Kovach russell.kovach@gmail.com

Area 3: Gregg Petersen sig29@aol.com

Area 4: Mike McClure McCluMD2@hotmail.com

Area 5: Kurt Schwarz krschwa1@verizon.net

Area 6: Tom Seivert tomseivert@verizon.net

Area 7: Meghaan Lane meghaanlane@gmail.com

Download the
Fall-2025Howard-Field-Sheet-AOS66Rev1-INTERACTIVE.pdf tally sheet

The field sheet is an interactive PDF form that can be opened and completed electronically (save it with a different name). If you prefer you can print the blank form and complete it manually and then scan or photograph it and send that to the area coordinator. Species that require a writeup include those identified with a double asterisk (**), as well as any write-ins. Others that may require a short writeup or oral amplification (*), as well as those that are early or late dates (@), are indicated. An alternative method is to do an eBird checklist or an eBird Trip Report if you count in multiple locations in your assigned sub-area. Provide your area coordinator with links to your eBird inputs. No matter which of these methods you chose be sure to provide ALL the information requested on the back of the field sheet. Species that are flagged by eBird will also need additional documentation