'Christmas Bird Count' tallies 6,000 birds, 60 species around Sitka

Sitka residents counted nearly 6,000 birds during the Audubon Christmas Bird Count this year. The annual count was held in Sitka in early January to accommodate busy holiday schedules for the participants. Despite bad weather, 33 people managed to identify 60 species of birds, including many shore birds seen from the beach. Count organizer Jen Cedarleaf says the rarest sighting was a pair of yellow-billed loons, one of which had been observed in the Sitka Channel long before the official count.Robert Woolsey, KCAW - SitkaDownload Audio (MP3)