Birders flock to Homestead ARB for annual bird count
Bonnie Ponwith surveys the landscape with her binoculars during the 2012 Christmas Bird Count at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., Dec. 9. As a National Audubon society program, the Christmas Bird Count is an annual event, more than a century old, that takes place across the country, where tens of thousands of volunteers, students, scientists, and bird enthusiasts turn their heads to the sky in the name of conservation. Audubon and other organizations use data collected in this wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations and to help guide conservation action. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Jacob Jimenez)