Before you stuff those stockings for Christmas, local birdwatchers ask that you also stuff your birdhouses and birdbaths to coax the winged friends out and into the open.

This weekend marks the beginning of the Christmas Bird Count, a campaign organized by the National Audubon Society to take a census of bird populations. Those involved in the Lawrence effort, headed by the Jayhawk Audubon Society, will take up their binoculars and tally all the birds they see this Saturday. Baldwin City and Perry Lake will have their own bird counts Sunday.

Galen Pittman, the bird count compiler for Lawrence, said black oil sunflower seeds are generally the best feed for birdhouses. Suet, a hard white-beef fat, is also useful in attracting woodpeckers, he said.

Filling birdbaths with water, despite the hassle of dealing with ice, is also important this time of year for birds, Pittman said.

A full list of counting crews across the state, with contact information to sign up, can be found at www.ksbirds.org.