The St. Croix Source reports that fewer birds and species were counted this year during the Audubon Society’s 117th Annual Christmas Bird Count on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, but organizes speculate that this may not reflect a decrease in bird life but rather that there were fewer volunteers covering less ground than in past years.

On Bird Count Sunday, a total of 2,856 birds were counted on St. Croix with 72 species sighted by 24 volunteers. St. Croix’s Christmas Bird Count organizer Bill Boyton, said, “It’s difficult to predict how many birds will be counted from one year to the next. Each year’s number can be up or down from the last for lots of reasons, but it’s the people doing the counting that matters the most.”

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