Each year, Dennis C. Harris bundles up in winter wear, straps binoculars around his neck and heads out to Chickamauga Dam for a 24-hour stint in the woods.

Every tweet, caw and call must be written down and every fluttering wing must be identified. While this may not be some people’s idea of a day well spent, Mr. Harris knows he is part of a rich bird-watching tradition.

“A lot of people look at you and say, ‘Why would you do something like that?’” said Mr. Harris, a retired Navy officer. “But it is a fun thing to do. We saw a gray catbird, which generally isn’t here this time of year. I don’t think I have ever seen one this late.”

Mr. Harris was among 30 volunteers who went out Dec. 20 for the Chattanooga Christmas Bird Count, part of the Audubon Society’s bird count nationwide. A bird count at the Hiawassee Refuge in Meigs County and Nickajack Lake in Marion County occurred last week.

The Audubon Society has been hosting the annual Christmas Bird Count, which runs across the country from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5, for 109 years.

The bird count began in the early 1900s when people went on New Year’s Day and shot every animal and bird they could find. The event was mainly for sport at the time, but over the years evolved into a count of different species of birds, according to the Audubon Society.

Kevin Calhoon, an ornithologist at the Tennessee Aquarium who helped organize the local event, said the count is important because it helps track bird populations over time and alerts researchers about environmental changes.

“This is a really good way to keep track of the population trend of our birds,” Mr. Calhoon said. “This is a good data set for us to have. It is a good way to look at habitats.”

During the count, groups divide and cover an area seven miles in diameter. Some groups are out before sunrise to look for owls, he said.

When the counts are tallied, they are sent to the national Audubon Society and used for research, he said.

In December, bird watchers counted 12,007 birds and 92 different species were identified, a decrease from last year when 103 species were counted. However, Mr. Calhoon said poor weather pushed many birds out of the area.

“That is not good for a Christmas count,” he said. “We have birds that migrate in the fall and a lot have already migrated through. ... This was a low year.”

But birds come and go, he said. For example, the house finch, once common in the western United States, has become much more prevalent in the East, he said. And the Eurasian collared dove, a species from the Caribbean that was never seen in Chattanooga in the 1980s, has increased every year in the count.

On the other hand, the northern bobwhite, once common in Hamilton County, has been pushed out by development because its habitat of agricultural farm lands have disappeared, he said.

“That bird is almost gone from Hamilton County now,” he said.

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