It’s difficult to draw sweeping conclusions from one year of the Point Reyes Christmas Bird Count. This year’s numbers weren’t great, but neither was the weather, and birds don’t like a lousy day much more than humans do.
The 170 intrepid birders who scoured the Point Reyes peninsula on Dec. 20 counted 185 species—only the third time in 25 years that the tally has fallen below 190.
Were the numbers down because Dec. 20 was…