The morning started out a disaster. We were prepared to go rain or shine, but Saturday’s ice storm made conditions not just unpleasant, but dangerous. I frantically coordinated with my colleagues at the D.C. Audubon Society to alert our 24 volunteers that we had to push our start time to the afternoon. Postponing any longer or giving up was out of the question, after all, because we had more than a century’s worth of tradition to uphold. The first Christmas Bird Count, or CBC, was held in 1900,

Birders know not to expect much from Hollywood. The costumes may be historically accurate. The actors’ accents might be impeccable. But the birds? The birds will be wrong. American bird species are almost never seen in American film or TV. Those vultures seen in the 2013 film “The Lone Ranger,” set in Texas? They’re an African species. The doves in “Dances With Wolves?” Ringed turtle-doves, also not found in the wild outside of Africa. The CGI’d raven in this year’s Oscars nominee for best pict