The 9th straight Watauga Co. Spring Count was done on May 9, 2026. With good effort and a decent migrant movement, the crew found over 4000 birds of 123 species. Big thanks and kudos to the 17 birders in 12 parties who gave their time and effort for bird occurrence knowledge. But a special shoutout to D. Shetterly and P. Geiger who went way above the bar with 16 party hours, and scoured many habitats to find an amazing 704 birds of 87 species, mostly eked out one at a time.
