The 117th Christmas Bird Count season was another one for the books, with a total of 447 counts completed in Canada – just a slight drop from the previous year. Some of these counts have been run for decades, engaging multiple generations in winter birding, while others have recently joined in the tradition. This year, 13 new counts were initiated in Canada, from Spirit River, AB to Baddeck, NS. New or old, CBCs contribute valuable data for assessing bird population health and guiding conservation action. Compared to the previous season’s unusually warm temperatures, the weather during the 2016-17 count period was more typical of a Canadian winter. Cold snaps and heavy snowfall in some regions resulted in challenging census conditions and lower species totals. There were few lingering migrants, and many freshwater bodies were ice-covered, pushing waterfowl south or coastward. Despite these challenges, Canadian participants rallied in true CBC spirit to tally over three million...