For more than 100 years, teams of naturalists have ventured out into the wilderness around Christmastime to note each discernible squawk and every recognizable coat of feathers.

Known as the Christmas Bird Count, this national winter tradition has helped keep a record of bird populations around the U.S. since 1900.

Here in Colorado Springs, the Aiken Audubon Society will host its seasonal count at Bear Creek Nature Center on Saturday. The day will start with a count, and in the evening, there will be a Tally Rally to collect the results.

“The Christmas Bird Count is the largest and the longest-spanning citizen effort of its kind, and so it really gives a sense across a large scale of what bird populations are doing,” said Tyler Stuart, the Colorado Springs Christmas Bird Count compiler.

The bird count is held in a 15-mile diameter circle. In the morning, interested participants will be put into teams to cover as much area as possible. The teams record every bird they see or hear, as long as they can identify it.

While there is occasional overlap — the same bird might be counted twice by different teams — the numbers tend to balance out, Stuart said.

Not able to attend the count? If you’re within the set boundaries, you can record the birds you see in your backyard as a feeder counter. The map of the eligible area is available at aikenaudubon.com.

At the end of the day, the data is compiled during the Tally Rally at the Bear Creek Nature Center, which also will host a potluck. From there, Stuart will send off the data to the state compiler, who will verify it and pass it to the National Audubon Society for recordkeeping.

Each year, the local Audubon chapter records around 90 to 110 species of birds in a single day, with the most common species being waterfowl. Sometimes, though, the birders spot unlikely, out-of-season birds, like the time they spotted two Tennessee warblers.

“They do occur annually in Colorado during migration, but even then, they’re considered rare, and they spend the winters in Central America,” Stuart said about the warblers. “So for them to be here and to have two of them in different parts of our circle, was a big surprise.”

The bird count is not just an opportunity to observe nature, it also can affect environmental policies and give insight into the status of endangered species.

“It has helped inform studies,” Stuart said. “Numbers are really crashing for a lot of species, but then we’re also seeing some great increases in waterfowl and other species that have seen protections through wetland initiatives and things.”