I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the illustrations. I liked that the little girl was outside exploring nature. And, it was neat learning about the Bird Count.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Such a beautiful picture book about doing the bird count. Love this book.

I loved this story of a young birdwatcher, an old pro at the New England Christmas bird count. I am always on the lookout for stories that inspire young ones to look out for nature and this is a good one.

A young girl, Ava, joins her family on the annual Christmas Bird Count in and around her New England community. The leader of the group, Big Al, asks her to keep a record of what her team sees (and hears). It is a big honor for Ava and she takes on the role with excitement and energy. Ava knows to use her most important tools - her eyes and ears - when identifying birds. She also looks forward to the end of the day, when the teams get together to add up all their totals and to celebrate with a party.

The book nicely describes what a Christmas Bird Count is like, with the spotting and identifying, logging, and moving on to find more areas where birds might be flocking. Author Susan Edwards Richmond clearly understands the Christmas Bird Count and tries to generate some interest to the child.

As someone who has been on a Christmas Bird Count or two, I will note, however, that 'excitement' is not the state of the day. It's a lot of driving, scanning for bird movement, and then trying to identify the distant bird. <em>True</em> birders (I know a few of them) may get excited by what they see, but even they don't maintain that excitement the way that Ava does here.

The artwork by Stephanie Fizer Coleman is cheery and appropriate for youngsters.

I don't know that this book will sway many children to wanting to take part in the annual bird count, but I can imagine a lot of birders buying this book for their children and grand-children.

Looking for a good book? <em>Bird Count</em> is a children's picture book by Susan Edwards Richmond and Stephanie Fizer Coleman which describes the annual Christmas Bird Count and a young girl's adventure as she joins in on the bird counting day.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

A few years ago I watched a delightful documentary about bird watching in Central Park called “Birders: The Central Park Effect.” (DVD available to rent from Netflix or Prime) Around the same time, warning articles started to appear about how bird numbers are now in decline around the world. Your book shines a spotlight on the dedicated people who come out to do annual bird counts in their neighborhoods.

Ava, her mom and team leader Big Al all get up early on a cold day to go out and get an avian count. There are rules to be followed – count every bird you see or hear, make sure at least two people see or hear it, and don’t count a bird twice. I enjoyed examining the charming illustrations to find the birds which Ava’s group sees and watching as her count (seen on the side of the pages) grows over the course of the day. Thanks for the information about the birds seen in the book and the list of available resources readers can access to learn more. B+

Any bird lover would love this book. It is full of bird species, what they look like and what they sound like. So much information packed into such a small book. I learned many things about birds, I had no idea about some of the subtle differences in some birds, such as a crow and a raven. Fun educational read, just wished I liked birds more.
#Netgalley

This was a cute book with wonderful illustrations. I loved all the information about the birds and the journey the little girl goes on. Perfect for a picture book read aloud.

Bird Count is the story of a young girl named Ava, who participates in the annual Christmas bird count. She is proud to be a citizen scientist as she rides in the truck with her mom and Big Al, her team’s leader. Throughout the day they see many species of bird, including a great horned owl, red-tailed hawks, cardinals and starlings. The reader sees Ava’s notebook to the right of each illustration, and can see as she counts the birds. Ava ends the day with hot chocolate by an open fire. Bird Count is charming and informative—a great winter read for anyone, no matter the age. Additionally, the cover is fantastic—a young girl bundled up in her coat, looking through binoculars, with a chickadee resting in the upper right corner—a perfect introduction to a wonderful, wonderful book.

I received a free copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

I had read a book about the Bird Count conducted each year at Christmas and the origin of that a while ago. In this story, Ava, her mother and their friend, Big Al, participate in the Christmas Bird Count in and around their town. Each team is given an area and the proper procedure is explained to get an accurate count. There must be at least two people to see a bird in order to count it. They often use bird songs and calls to locate the various species. The illustrations are wonderful and assist in identifying actual birds. The story takes place in the N.E. United States, so those are the birds that are in this book. In Southern Ontario, we do not see all these birds in and there are others we do see, but that didn't matter when we read this book. My grandson enjoyed this story and now he wants to know if we can go out and count birds this Christmas. I will try to be more observant and point out birds to him when we see and hear them. This is a great book for kids who like birds, or for classroom learning about birds or even the environment.

This book was an enjoyable read both for my daughter and myself. I had no idea that bird counts existed. I think the content was spot on for middle-grade students, and the illustrations were super lovely.

Bird count is a beautifully crafted picture book about the Christmas Bird Count, an annual census of birds run by the National Audobon Society. Told through the point of view of a young girl, we see how she and her count circle tally and identify all of the birds they see in their neighborhood.

Bird count is skillfully crafted with gentle, friendly illustrations as well as the thoughtful detail of using her tally notebook on each page. This little detail will help the reader tag along on her adventure and keep track of the count as well. The simple use of bolding of the types of birds in the text is later used to connect the reader to more information in the back of the book about each bird. Simple details like this, elevate this book to the next level.

One highlight of the book is the two page spread of the Canada Geese flying overhead. It is a great use of perspective (looking down on her car) and helps to send home the idea that birds are all around and that you need to use your eyes and ears at all times to find them.

The author ends the charming story with an author's note, further reading and websites. This is a very well done picture book with great attention to details. Highly recommend.

Thank you Peachtree and NetGalley for this free review book. It does a good job of explaining the bird count for young readers, all while describing the different bird types. This would be a great book to accompany school units about birds (2nd grade at our school). It's a fun way to see how learning about birds can be used for the bird count. I love the way the illustrator included the tally notebook running along the page spreads.

THIS BOOK IS AMAZING, and yes, worth all caps. I love bird and know that kids generally love animals and this book is so wonderful!

Ava loves birds and loves to help count them in order to help with a Bird Count Party. A bird count party is what it seems like, everyday people, not scientists, go around on certain days and count the birds that they see and report back to appropriate channels.

The book is a picture and counting book, but it is also an educational experience for both parents and kids to learn about counting birds and how to do it. You will also learn about bird and some of the different types. It is beautifully drawn and the content is so fascinating (at least to me as an adult). I think that animal lovers will really like this book and I highly recommend it.

Blog review will be live on October 1st.

I was very impressed with both the illustrations and the dialog in the book. The story was simple and sweet and based on the author’s experiences being a part of the annual Christmas Bird Count in the Western Hemisphere. It’s clear that the characters enjoy participating in the bird counting. They identify many birds by their appearance and their specific calls. Going with them on the journey, you will feel right at home.

The idea of becoming a citizen scientist, no experience necessary, will appeal to kids. If readers are interested, there is information for them to become involved.

I love a book that can open up a unique opportunity or spark a new interest for kids to pursue. This book does just that.

Bird Count written by Susan Edwards Richmond and illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman is a wonderful book about how to be a citizen scientist and the importance about participating to help nature. This book is suggested for an age range of 4 to 8 years and a grade level of 1 to 2, however, I promise that even adults will love this book.

Ava and her mother are getting ready to join in the Christmas Bird Count as citizen scientists. The Christmas Bird Count is a real event with Audubon and after you read this book, and get inspired to be a citizen scientist yourself,you can get all the information for this event here; https://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count. As a new birder myself, I was amazed at how much helpful information is in this book!

Bird Count - The Story

Ava and her mom have been doing this event for a while now. They have joined a team in their community and Big Al is the leader. This year, Ava is so excited because she is going to be the one to tally all their sightings. The book does a wonderful job of showing what Ava is doing, by having a running notebook graphic on the right side of the book to show all the birds they have seen and heard. Big Al reiterates the birding ID techniques they use;

Count every bird you see or hear
Make sure at least 2 people see or hear it
Don't count any bird twice

As the story goes on, each of these techniques come to life, for example Ava sees a V of birds flying over their car and she identifies them as Canada Geese they agree that there are 5 birds in this V formation. Later on in the story Ava sees Canada geese in a field and quickly counts them for a total of 5. Mom points out that this is the same number they counted flying before, and these are probably the same group now that they have landed. So they don't include them in their count again.

Details on Doing a Bird Count

The story is easy to read and understand, but it packs in so much information on what you do on a bird count and how to identify birds. Ava is hoping to see a raven that she had seen in previous years. We think that she has finally found her bird, but she points out that this black bird is saying Caw Caw which makes it a crow. She explains that Ravens make a croaking sound. You'll have to read the book to see if she finds her Raven to include in this years Bird Count.

The back of the book contains even more information about the species that were featured in their bird count. So not only do you have a wonderful, and beautifully illustrated story, but you have reference material that can be used as the reader starts their own adventure in bird watching. I highly recommend this book for anyone that loves birds and perhaps they can become the next citizen scientist to make a difference!

This book has the perfect bundle of birds students / people can see in their daily lives and nature spots in their neighborhood. I always love a good integrated picture book that can be multiple subjects and is classroom-ready. This one does that! It has a glossary, notes on the different birds, bolded bird names as a text feature, as well as a running tally in the MC's 'notebook' along the way. There is so much potential for how to use this sweet little text to get kids excited about birds/science and break it into a class project or assign birds to them etc.

Loved it!

PS. Definitely making the Christmas Bird Count a family tradition! It would be fun and easy to make it a neighborhood field trip activity with students or a whole school, too!

I love how this book is set up. It takes you on an adventure to find birds. The addition of the tallying of the birds on the side is a nice touch. Additionally, the bold bird names and pictures allow readers to locate the birds and match them up. Lots of learning. The glossary of birds in the back is wonderful too.
I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy.

A while back I reviewed Counting Birds: The Idea That Helped Save Our Feathered Friends, which tells the story of how the long-running citizen science project called the "Christmas bird count" developed, and why it's become so important for scientists and for the birds they are aiming to protect.

Bird Count is also about the bird count, but it approaches it from a more personal angle. It tells the fictionalized story of a girl named Ava and her mom as they participate in the bird count, spending an entire wintery day watching, listening, and collecting data.

We get to see some of the methodology of counting birds at work here -- for example, a bird can only be counted if two or more people in the group see it. The route the group takes is also identified in advance so they can cover a large area. On each page, we see the tally of different types of birds as it's added to.

The "day in the life" aspect of this book helped to make the bird count come alive, and it inspired me to do some reading on The Audubon Society's website to see what kinds of counting groups are available in my area. Maybe someday we'll make this event part of our winter science education!

(Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.)

Bird Count is a wonderfully detailed and beautifully illustrated children's book about a young girl who goes bird watching with her mother. This story weaves together nature and childlike wonder in a great way. Not only was it a lovely story to read but the information provided was great for children and adults. This is a great book for people of all ages to remind us to embrace the beauty in nature and to remind us that we can all be "citizen scientists".

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I absolutely adored this story. There aren't many books about birdwatching around, the last I can recall is Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, and that was written a long time ago. I really like how the girl can birdwatch all throughout her community, she doesn't have to go far out into the wilderness to see the nature all around her. The illustrations are cheerful and fun, and accurate enough but not too detailed so we can see the different birds.