First Friday deadline: Jan. 3

Have the recent Christmas Bird Counts provided fodder for a 500-word piece of fiction about birds and birders?

The story needs to contains four ingredients: a setting, a character or characters, a conflict and a resolution. I'd like to add a rule for our purposes: The birds will not be anthropomorphized. Also, please provide the story in a Word document or in the body of the e-mail.

The winner can choose two recently published books from the WildBird bookshelves. Click on the links in the right-hand column of the blog's homepage to read winning stories and to see the prizes.

Hoping to see your short story in my inbox on Wednesday, Jan. 3!