San Blas, Mexico - This year's Christmas Bird Count (CBC) for San Blas will be held on Wednesday, January 2, 2013. There will be an organizational meeting January 1, at 6:00 pm at the Hotel Garza Canela, where we will form teams and give out assignments.

Come lend us a hand with Mexico's oldest, and most species-rich CBC. The San Blas count is the best CBC north of Costa Rica. Last year, with just 14 participants, we tallied 249 species on count day - not bad. But we found another 38 species during count week (3 days before and after the count day) - an indication that the potential is much higher. We just need more counters.

You don't need to be an expert birder, or even have any experience birding at all, to participate. Many people have had their first experience with bird watching on a CBC. The entire count is done within a circle 15 miles in diameter.

But, because that's such a large area, we divide into many small teams of 3-5 people, and each team is assigned a particular place to bird. Experienced birders are paired with less experienced birders, so it's a great chance to spend some time in the field learning from other birders.

This year it's even more critical that we have more counters, because we have discovered lots of new birding sites within the count circle. What we've found in Chacalilla alone could occupy 3-4 teams of birders. Chacalilla is a place that was first birded last Spring, and in about 25-30 visits that I've made this year, has produced a list of 220 species. And there are even more new areas to be covered.

We have a group of home-grown birders to tap this year, but we clearly could use more birders. So please, think about coming to help us out.

Remember to come to the Hotel Garza Canela in San Blas at 6:00 p.m. January 1, 2013, to form teams and assign areas to count.

Send an email to mark(at)westwings.com if you can make it, or if you have any questions.

Hope to see you here!