Birdwitching

Birdwitching is a fantasy short story by Harry Turtledove written specifically for the short story collection Witch Way to the Mall edited by Esther Friesner and published by Baen in 2009.

It takes place in a world much like our own except that magic works and a large proportion of the population are witches who are able to control it. Lucy Parker was such a witch and also a birder. Every Yule Day, Sunset Grove, the small town she lived in, had a friendly competition with its neighbour of Fernwood to see whose residents could spot the most types of birds that day. Friendly, but with witches involved, intense.

Literary Note
Based on Friesner's introduction, she has begun editing a new series of short story collections with the theme of "supernatural suburbanites" starting with witches. She suggests future collections will deal with vampires and werewolves.