UNITY – The Unity Area Birders are sponsoring the fourth annual Unity Christmas Bird Count on Dec. 22.

Bird-watchers are encouraged to participate by going into the field or watching feeders at home.

The bird count will begin at midnight the morning of Friday, Dec. 22, and continue to 4 p.m. A 7.5-mile radius count circle will be centered on the intersection of Routes 9, 202 and Quaker Hill Road in Unity.

Birds must be observed and tallied within the 15-mile diameter circle on count day. Results will be tabulated and reported in the 2001 Christmas count issue of American Birds, a publication of the National Audubon Society.

There is no fee to participate, but there is a $5 fee for counters to publish their names in American Birds.

Unity Area Birders will pay the fee for pupils in kindergarten through 12th grade and for college students in hopes that younger bird-watchers might get involved.

Instructions for field birding and observing birds at feeders are available. Forms will be provided to record species, numbers of birds of each species, time spent observing, distances traveled, weather conditions and party size.

For information, contact Dave Porter at 568-3797 during evenings and weekends.

An instructional meeting will be held at 3 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, in Koons Hall at Unity College.

Other regional bird counts in the area are: Thomaston-Rockland, Saturday, Dec. 16, contact Mike Andrews, 594-7145; Waterville, Sunday, Dec. 17, contact Bets Brown, 445-4967; and Pemaquid-Damariscotta, Saturday, Dec. 30, contact Joe Gray, 563-3578.