Bird enthusiasts and nature lovers flocked around the Thibodaux area on Saturday as a part of Christmas Bird Count organized by the National Audubon Society. Equipped with binoculars and important data on different bird species, the birders tried to spot something different about birds in the area.

Delaina LeBlanc, the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program’s migratory bird coordinator, and Thibodaux High School biology teacher, Jed Pitre, worked together to organize the event. It was a good experience to work with Thibodaux, which hadn't had it in last one decade, said LeBlanc. It’s an opportunity for bird enthusiasts to know what is in the trees, she added.

Christmas Bird Count is not a new tradition. It started more than a century ago in 1900 with an aim to see birds. The motive behind the tradition was to get a glimpse of birds without hunting them. The bird count season is held throughout the Western Hemisphere between December 14 and January 5.

“The Christmas Bird Count began because people used to go out on Christmas Day and shoot everything. Shoot every bird you can – it'd be like this competition. There was a push by conservation to change it: Let's count the birds instead of killing them”, LeBlanc explained.

According to LeBlanc, 11 birders travelled around the Thibodaux area on Saturday. There were three more people who took part in the tradition on Saturday to see birds at their home feeders. From 6 am to evening, the participants saw 108 different species of birds, LeBlanc added.