69 bird species ID’d in count

The Audubon Society’s annual Lake Leelanau Christmas bird count set a new record again this year with an all time high number of bird species, 69, spotted on count day in December.

“It was a really good year for Lake Leelanau and Traverse City (area),” said Kirk Waterstripe, who helped organize the count.

Bird count had 30 people participating, including five feederwatchers for the Lake Leelanau area that combined for 59.5 hours by car, on foot, at feeders and by canoe.