The Christmas Bird Count, widely regarded as the largest and oldest citizen science project in the world, will be Dec. 17 in South Lake Tahoe.

Each year, Dec. 14-Jan. 5 tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the world head out into the winter to count birds for a day. This tradition goes back to 1900, and in the intervening years, these birders have built a database on bird populations that is unmatched by any other wildlife census.

TINS co-founder Will Richardson has coordinated the South Lake Tahoe count since 2004.

Meet at Alpina Coffee Cafe on Emerald Bay Road at 8am. The group will bird at Cove East before splitting into groups to bird at other areas. A pizza party, complementary of TINS will conclude the day.

To register, go online.