Alva Review-Courier -

It's a given that when the Great Backyard Bird Count begins Friday, Steve and Janet Kistler of Hart County, Kentucky, will be joining in. They've done so every year since the now-global tradition began 25 years ago.

For Moira Dalibor, a middle-school math teacher a couple hours away in Lexington, this will be the first count. She's leading a group of students and parents to an arboretum for an exercise in data-gathering.

They're expected to be among hundreds of thousands of people around the world counting and recording over four days, Feb. 17-20. Last year, about 385,000 people from 192 count...