By Nancy Acton While the Ministry of Tourism is busy tabulating visitor arrivals with the aid of computers, birdwatchers are checking the bushes and byeways with binoculars and notebooks, recording the steady flow of the other species of visitor who also wing it to Bermuda.

And, unlike the human counters, birdwatchers report business is booming. Ask any of them, "What's the word, bird?'' and the answer could be: "semi-plated sandpiper, willet, long-billed dowitcher, lesser yellowleg,'' or any one of dozens of other ornithological beauties.

"We call them our feathered tourists,'' President of the Bermuda Audubon Society, Mr. Jeremy Madeiros, explained. "Most are migratory. While we have 22 resident "local'' birds who live and breed here year-round, some 352 other species have been recorded here, including four new ones this past autumn. So there is a huge number of migratory birds passing through the Island.'' Very often, these birds are preceded by migratory North American butterflies and dragonflies, also heading south to the Caribbean and South America.

"They are often the first sign that migrant birds are approaching,'' Mr.

Madeiros confirmed.

As for the birds themselves, the president said: "If you are out in a boat you can actually see them homing in on the Island.'' And despite what many people think, the migrant population here is very large indeed, although at first blush it might not appear so.

"You have to know where to find them and what you are looking for. Bermuda is a very good location for birding and every year is different,'' Mr. Madeiros assured.

December is a particularly busy month for local bird-watchers. Indeed, the annual navigational miracle that brings hundreds of migrant birds to these shores for a short stay en route elsewhere is a time of great excitement.

"From July through to the Spring you can see many different birds from the entire western hemisphere,'' Mr. Madeiros said. "Literally hundreds of species come through. Some are deliberate tourists and others are accidental ones who have been blown off course by intense storms and hurricanes. Despite their incredible navigational skills, they find themselves lost in a huge ocean with no place to land, so Bermuda becomes a mid-Atlantic rest stop for them.'' Numbers and varieties vary with the weather.

"If we get a mild autumn, generally we get very few migrants because the winds are not strong enough to push them off the coast, but if we have a more stormy autumn, then we tend to get thousands of diverse birds who get pushed out and lost over the ocean,'' Mr. Madeiros said.

As to the birds' originally destinations, he explained that, since the majority were "neo-tropical'', they were basically heading for the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Their numbers included "some of the most beautiful birds on earth''.

That alone is enough to excite the many active members of the Bermuda Audubon Society as well as more casual bird watchers, all of whom revel in the itinerant visual feast.

"I always like to say it is one of the cheapest hobbies you can have and one of the most interesting because basically all the equipment you need is a pair of good binoculars, a field guide of birds, and a note book,'' Mr. Madeiros said.

Nonetheless, he cautioned that the hobby was no cinch.

"People think birdwatching is easy, but really it is quite challenging and a lot more difficult than they realise.'' Citing wood warblers as one example, Mr. Madeiros noted there were 37 species of these, some of which were very difficult to identify.

"You have to look for specific field marks to identify them. Sometimes the only way is to look at their behaviour -- how they feed and what they are feeding on,'' he explained.

He stressed, however, that beginners could "start off simply'' and gradually work their way up to identifying the most difficult species.

"Birdwatching is something you can continue to add to and learn about for the rest of your life,'' he assured.

What, then, kept experienced birders interested? "Every year we get new species blown in which have never before been recorded here,'' Mr. Madeiros responded. "Everybody likes to be the first to spot them.'' What makes this aspect even more exciting is never knowing how much time the birder has to actually spot and identify a bird.

"Sometimes you can look at something for hours, and sometimes it's just a quick glimpse and the bird is gone,'' Mr. Madeiros said.

Indeed, the modus operandi by which birders "stalk'' their prey is as varied as the people themselves.

Describing himself as "a laid back birder'', the Audubon Society president said his feathered friends' behaviour was what fascinated him most.

"I like to take time and study the personality of the bird, what it eats, and so forth. Others have a different approach. There is healthy competition among birders, and as many different types of birders as there are birds. The Audubon Society welcomes them all.'' As enjoyable a hobby as birdwatching is, at Christmastime it takes on a more serious dimension when the most experienced members of the Bermuda Audubon Society participate in an international ornithological population census.

"It is a scientific census, which is carried out all through North, Central and South America, and in Europe,'' Mr. Madeiros explained. "It is sponsored by the US National Audubon Society, to whom we send our results.'' For five days either side of Christmas the local census takers work in teams from pre-dawn until dusk in designated sections of the Island recording every single bird they see.

"We will go to known birding areas such Spittal Pond, Pembroke Dump and the Airport dump, and we will even go into the night and look for owls. This winter we have had a long-eared owl on the Island for some weeks,'' Mr.

Madeiros said. "Ironically, Pembroke dump used to be one of the best sites.

There you would see hundreds of gulls feeding on the scraps, but with the phasing out of the dump in favour of the incinerator the birds are being forced to return to their natural feeding styles.'' When all is done, results are tallied according to numbers of each species seen and then submitted to the National Audubon Society for inclusion in their overall report.

"From the final report, we will get an idea of how bird populations are rising or falling, which is very important because birds are a real indication of the health of the entire eco system,'' Mr. Madeiros said. "If birds are declining, this means there are serious problems elsewhere in the system which are causing them to decline.'' Meanwhile, the Audubon Society president suggested that householders could do much to make their properties bird-friendly, and thereby reap the joys which birdwatching could bring.

"Anybody can attract birds into their neighbourhood or yard by providing the habitat they need to survive,'' he said. "One of the most important things is providing water. Two or three birdbaths, or even a little pool, will increase the attraction of any number of birds. I have seen over 80 species of migrants in my yard in the last five years, for example.'' Food and cover (vegetation) were the other ingredients birds looked for.

Bermuda's passion for immaculately trimmed hedges, trees and bushes were detrimental to bird life.

"By leaving a natural corner with bushes you have automatically created a habitat for birds,'' Mr. Madeiros explained. "We are in an era where people like to keep everything neat and tidy and very artificial looking. They believe that a garden must be well maintained, symmetrical and highly pruned, all of which is harmful to wildlife.

"We would encourage people to have a little woodland area or thicket on their property because many birds cannot survive unless they have such areas.'' MIGRATORY MIRACLES -- Bermuda is a welcome rest stop for a huge variety of migratory birds, including (left) this snowy egret and (right) a pair of fulvous whistling ducks. Some birds naturally stop here on their way to the Caribbean, Central and South America, while others arrive having been blown off course by bad weather. Photo left by Jeremy Madeiros, right by Andrew Dobson .