Albany, Ga. ? Rain or shine, Alan Ashley will be out at the crack of dawn on Dec. 28, binoculars at the ready and ears attuned to the hoots of owls, the foreboding calls of mourning doves and the chirps of sparrows.

He and thousands of other bird watchers throughout the Western Hemisphere will be participating in the National Audubon Society’s 103rd annual Christmas Bird Count, the longest continuously running wildlife survey in the world.

More than 55,000 volunteers, including about 1,000 in Georgia, will take part in the Dec. 14-Jan. 4 count in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, South and Central America and a few Pacific islands.

“This is the birding even of the year,” said Terry Johnson, a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources who has taken part in 21 counts. “This is the World Series.”

Birds are indicators of the health of the environment. In the 1960s, the decline of peregrine falcons and bald eagles – discovered during the Christmas counts – alerted humans to the dangers of pesticides such as DDT.

“By looking at long-term population trends, biologists can get an idea of the success or failure of conservation efforts,” Johnson said.

Birdwatcher alan Ashley scans the trees for birds in Albany, Ga. Ashley and thousands of other bird lovers will take part in the National Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count that started Saturday and will run through Jan. 4.

During the count, the birders note every bird seen within a 24-hour period in a specific geographical area. Each area is a circle 15 miles in diameter, covering about 177 square miles.

The volunteers covered 1,936 circles last year – nearly 343,000 square miles – and counted more than 52 million birds, accounting for nearly every species in North America.

Johnson said it provides competition for participants – seeing the most and the rarest birds.

“It only gets strenuous when you have bad weather,” he said. “We’ve had situations where people got stuck. We’ve had binoculars get fogged up and everyone put their binoculars in a stove to dry them out. Most people will continue to count, even if it’s in a driving rain. Some will say, ‘I’ve had enough. I’m going home.”‘

¢ www.audubon.org

Many, like Ashley, say they welcome the chance to get outdoors and see birds. The Albany birders saw nearly 90 species last year, from a rare barn owl to the more common pileated woodpecker.

“I also enjoy the challenge of trying to identify as many species as I can,” said Ashley, 60, a manager at Albany’s Marine Corps Logistics Base.