Pine grosbeak

© Peter Lilja/Getty Image

I see one!

Today's the first day of the 120th annual Christmas Bird Count, said to be the largest and longest-running citizen science project in the world. For the next 23 days, through January 5, thousands of volunteers around the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, the US, Canada, and Latin America will join members of the Audubon Society for this important endeavour in the study and protection of birds. Together, they'll scour the woods, fields, and lakes of their respective regions (or just watch their bird feeders), to take a census of the individual birds and species they find.

Bird watchers in Western Canada, Alaska, and the Northwest United States will undoubtably find a few pine grosbeaks like the one featured in our image today. The largest member of the true finch family, it makes its nest in the northern boreal forests and feeds on berries and fruits. You might identify it from its short musical warble. While the pine grosbeak mostly stays in the northern latitudes, it's an irruptive species, meaning it migrates some winters farther south to find food. It's quite tame and unafraid of people, so it can be easy to overlook because it'll often sit still as a bird watcher walks by.