Santa and other flying friends
Walkabout: PI
Happenings in the Star City
Santa’s on his way
If you’re having visions of sugar plums and hoping for the sound of reindeer hooves, rest assured: NORAD is on the job once again.
For the past 60 years, the North American Aerospace Defense Command and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), have tracked Santa’s flight on Christmas Eve, and now even have an interactive website where the curious can experience the countdown.
According to NORAD’s Santa Tracker headquarters, the tradition began in 1955 when a Sears advertisement in Colorado Springs misprinted a telephone number children could use to call Santa. That number actually took callers to the CONAD commander-in-chief’s operations hotline.
Col. Harry Shoup, the director of operations at the time, obligingly had staff check the radar for indications of Santa traveling from the North Pole — and so began the annual mission. When CONAD was replaced by NORAD in 1958, the reins were passed to the new organization.
To track Santa, visit www.noradsanta.org, and there you’ll see an up-to-the-second countdown to the Jolly Old Elf’s visit and an invitation to explore the North Pole. There are links to listen to holiday tunes, read Santa-themed books, play games and more. You can even visit NORAD headquarters, learn about its mission and view “Secret Santa Files.”
Now, you may wonder exactly how they keep track of Mr. Claus. According to the NORAD website, it takes thousands of volunteers staffing telephones and computers, who answer calls and emails from folks around the world. The Norad Tracks Santa website features live updates in seven languages.
Nearly 9 million visit the site yearly, NORAD says, from more than 200 countries and territories around the world. In total, volunteers receive 12,000 emails and more than 70,000 phone calls.
Of course, the North Pole is equipped with the latest technology: Children and the young-at-heart can also track Santa via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and TroopTube.tv. Just type in @noradsanta into a search engine to join the tracking activity.
As NORAD’s Santa-tracking motto says, “We have the watch.”
Christmas birding
Another holiday tradition more than a century old is coming up next week: the Audubon Christmas Bird Count.
The count is a program of the National Audubon Society, which describes it as “an early-winter bird census, where thousands of volunteers across the U.S., Canada and many countries in the Western Hemisphere, go out over a 24-hour period on one calendar day to count birds.”
All Christmas Bird Counts are conducted between the dates of Dec. 14 and Jan. 5.
Locally, Aroostook Birders coordinates the counts. Caribou’s was held this past Saturday, and the Presque Isle area’s event will be on New Year’s Day. Everyone interested is invited to join in, for the whole day or just part of it, whether in person or by monitoring their home bird feeders.
New birders are usually paired with experienced volunteers. Participants will cover assigned areas and count all the wild birds they see. At the end of the day, they will meet, compare notes and compile a master list of species observed. Those who are monitoring their home feeders will record the birds they have seen in the same 24-hour period.
Though one might think birds are less plentiful in winter, that’s hardly the case. There are many seen in the wild and near homes.
Last year in the Presque Isle area, reports the club on their website, there were a record 37 birders participating, 27 in the field. Though there were lower total birds, 40 different species were seen — the second highest number recorded. They also observed the highest-ever counts of mallards, wild turkeys and downy woodpeckers, along with three snowy owls and other notable birds.
To participate in the Presque Isle area Christmas Bird Count, contact Bill.j.Sheehan@gmail.com. For further information, visit sites.google.com/site/Aroostook Birders, or follow the club on Facebook or on Twitter @AroostookBird.
And finally…
A wish — that everyone enjoys a truly merry and blessed Christmas and holiday season, with moments to be cherished for years to come.
