The Eurasian collared-dove has arrived in force in Utah.

Harold Clayson of Salem knows this because he and 50 other bird watchers from around Utah Valley spent the day Saturday tracking that and dozens of other local avian species as part of the National Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count.

National bird watchers have been monitoring the westward advance of the Eurasian collared-dove for years. Native to Florida, it has been slowly advancing and now is here in strength for the first time, Clayson said. He alone sighted 14 of them on Saturday.

"Whoa!" said Merrill Webb, director of this year's count in Utah Valley, when reached via cell phone just south of the Provo River about 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. "We just saw a peacock jump off someone's balcony. We can't count that, but it is unusual to see."

This year's 50 or so volunteers was a larger number than normal because of a dozen student volunteers from The Waterford School in Sandy who came down with a teacher to help, Webb said.

As the count began winding down, there were already signs of notable bird sightings. Webb said he had spotted ten brown creepers, "which is really unusual" and a white-throated sparrow, as well as Canadian tree sparrows.

"They are coming down to where it is nice and warm for the winter," he said of the Canadian birds, with a laugh.

Webb and his army of avian-minded volunteers endured the cold and removed themselves from the last-minute Christmas shopping rush in order to ensure local data on the health and population of bird species takes its place in the National Audubon Society's ever-growing database.

This year's Christmas count is the 108th nationally and the 36th consecutive in Utah Valley, Webb said.

Compiled nationally, the data is compared to previous years to determine whether individual species are declining, increasing, or stable.

"It is the longest-running winter bird census in the world," he said.

The effort was not with casualties. One Salem woman who began the day with Webb slipped on ice, giving herself "a nasty cut" that required her to drop out, though she refused medical care, Webb said.

Clayson said Saturday was his 25th year helping with the local bird count. He first got involved in the Audubon Society when his mother gave him a membership as a gift when he graduated from college three decades ago. On Saturday he spent the day canvassing birds throughout Orem, his assigned area. He had encountered 13 species by 1 p.m., including 110 European starlings, four California quail and a rare Townsend's Solitaire.

Clayson was aided in his search by his new $1,500 Swarovski binoculars, a reward to himself for years of earnest bird watching. A postal clerk by trade, he was a biology major and even taught biology for several years out of college.

For information on local bird watching, visit utahbirds.org.