This is Birdnode. So I get home, I make myself a cup of coffee, I enter my data.

When I take a shower, when I close my eyes, the shampoo doesn't get in, I'm still seeing lines of ducks flying behind my eyes.

Allison Velog has worked for half a decade as a fall and spring waterbird counter at remote migration hotspots around Lake Superior.

For weeks, every day from sunrise to nearly sunset, Allison is outside in frigid and volatile weather, identifying species from afar and telling them with a clicker.

You're just at the mercy of the elements and the wind, and it is exhausting to not only be out in brutal Lake Superior elements but also pay an attention all day and searching for movement.

Bad weather days are more reason for her to come in than to call out.

We're studying ducks and loons, birds that are associated with water, and rain and bad weather doesn't really make them stop flying.

In fact, some of my most amazing flights have happened during some of the most miserable weather conditions.

Working close to the elements puts Allison face to face with the reality of dwindling bird populations.

I think as a society, we want to tune things out, paying attention to the things happening around us at times feels almost like a form of protest.

And that's really what keeps me doing it is just having that lesson separation between my world and the world at large.

For Bird Note, I'm Josephine McRobbie.