While the 116th Christmas Bird Count field season has concluded, the data entry season is still in full swing! As of early February over 1600 counts have been completed online and are viewable to the public through the Current Year’s Results reports in the CBC website, with at least another 1000 expected to come in before it’s all said and done. While it’s still too early to draw any major conclusions regarding the 116th CBC results, clearly a driving factor in the season was the weather effects of the major El Niño event in the Pacific Ocean. These events drive continental weather in North America, and significant varying effects were experienced by CBC participants across the continent. In the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, absurdly mild conditions both prior to and during the CBC season led to unusually pleasant days in the field, but (for many counts) unusually few birds tallied. Species diversity was near normal, but bird numbers were very low as mild conditions provided...