Audubon Christmas Bird Count 2011-2012

categories: Cocktail Hour / Getting Outside

5 comments


I saw this rainbow bee-eater in Australia, and in my dreams at naptime, but not during the X-mas bird count this year.

This year marks the 112th Audubon Christmas bird count.  It was begun in 1900 by my hero Frank M. Chapman to replace the Christmas bird hunt, wherein teams of well-heeled sharpshooters went out on Christmas day to see who could destroy the most birds, which they did in the millions.  Even then declining populations of birds had conservationists (if not conservatives) concerned.  The bird count caught on, and the deadly version of the hunt ended.

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Last year, according to the Audubon Society count summary, “All counts combined tallied 61,359,451 birds; 57,542,123 in the United States, 3,355,759 in Canada, and 461,569 in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands species totals were impressive as well. In the United States during the 111th count, the total tally was 646 species, plus an additional 45 field-identifiable forms.”  These numbers can be used to spot trends, find trouble spots, and highlight good news.  The counts aren’t meant to be comprehensive, but provide comparative numbers for analysis.

In Farmington, Trevor Persons, a herpetologist by day, is kind enough to organize the count each year.  And each year, when I get the email from him, I wonder if I really want to get up for a 7 a.m. meeting at the McDonald’s in town.  (My first year was the first time I’d ever set foot in the place–it’s nice, with clean bathrooms, and food, apparently, mostly made of corn.)  But once the blood gets flowing, and once you’re in the woods, the count is really quite fun.  Trevor divides the volunteers into teams of two, except Bob Kimber, Drew Barton and I, who insist on being inefficient and going out together, the three binoculateers, for a day of conversation, farting, and exploration.  And of course counting.  Drew was late this year and had to meet us at Titcomb Mountain ski area, so I got to be the secretary, frequently losing Bob’s pen, but feeling like a big deal nevertheless, like the kid who gets to beat the erasers in first grade (never I).

December 17, 2011:  It’s fucking cold and damp as dawn breaks.  The birds are smart and wait for the sun, which appears with Drew about 9:30.  We humans drive from likely location to likely location, finding what they find and keeping tallies to report to Trevor, who reports in turn to Audubon.  Bob and Drew and I spotted the following, not our best year, but not our worst, either.  We quit at about 1:00 due to advancing age and the imminence of naptime, so I added my backyard birds to the count.  One depressing note: pine siskins, once plentiful around here in winter, have not been seen for some years.  I’m a big siskin fan. My personal favorite this year was Red Breasted Nuthatch, for its color in a wan world.  Perennial favorite is golden-crowned kinglet.  Didn’t count many woodpeckers or jays, surprisingly, and no sparrows at all, nor waxwings, nor raptors, nor cardinals, nor rarer types, and no surprises (team Trevor saw a snipe last year) but that doesn’t mean these birds weren’t out there somewhere, and doesn’t mean they weren’t out there in great numbers.  Though then again it might mean that.  In an update, I’ll add the rest of the Farmington figures, the Maine figures, and the national and international figures.  But for now:

Party members: Drew Barton, Bob Kimber, Bill Roorbach
Time start: 7:30
Time end:  1:30
Party hours: 6
Miles by car:  about 20
Miles by foot: about 5
Cloudy a.m.
Sunny p.m.
No snow.
Still water: Varnum Pond open, Drury Pond part closed.  Staples Pond mostly open. Streams flowing.
Notes:  Heard no owls night before.  Bill added backyard sightings after outing (European Starlings and 1 Grackle).
Previous week: 1 Belted Kingfisher, Mallard pair, 4 Raven.  Day after: 12 Common Redpoll

8 Ruffed Grouse

71 Rock Dove

11 Mourning Dove

1 Hairy Woodpecker

1 Downy Woodpecker

1 Pileated Woodpecker

16 Blue Jay

28 American Crow

1 Un-American Crow (according to Newt Gingrich)

56 Black-capped Chickadee

2 Tufted Titmouse

3 Red-Breasted Nuthatch

16 White-Breasted Nuthatch

2 Brown Creeper

3 Golden-Crowned Kinglet

8 American Robin

61 European (Socialist) Starlings

1 Junco

5 Purple Finch

45 All-American Goldfinch

18 species

3 sound naps

 

From Trevor Persons:

Farmington Christmas Bird Count Results

December 17, 2011

 

 

Species

Trevor and Mark

Howatts

Barton, Kimber, Roorbach

Count Week (CW)

 

TOTAL

Common Loon

2

2

Mallard

12

12

Wild Turkey

12

12

Ruffed Grouse

8

8

Bald Eagle

2 (1 ad, 1 juv)

2

Red-tailed Hawk

CW

Herring Gull

1

1

Rock Dove

24

25

71

120

Mourning Dove

23

72

11

106

Belted Kingfisher

CW

Hairy Woodpecker

5

3

1

9

Downy Woodpecker

1

2

1

4

Pileated Woodpecker

1

1

2

Blue Jay

16

28

16

60

American Crow

101

238

29

368

Common Raven

CW

Black-capped Chickadee

62

80

56

198

Tufted Titmouse

7

1

2

10

Red-breasted Nuthatch

2

1

3

6

White-breasted Nuthatch

4

10

16

30

Brown Creeper

2

2

4

Golden-crowned Kinglet

3

3

Eastern Bluebird

3

3

American Robin

49

1

8

58

European Starling

46

21

61

128

Cedar Waxwing

3

3

American Tree Sparrow

6

6

Song Sparrow

1

1

Dark-eyed Junco

5

8

1

14

Northern Cardinal

4

4

Common Grackle

1

1

Purple Finch

5

5

5

15

House Finch

3

6

9

American Goldfinch

44

165

45

254

Common Redpoll

CW

Red Crossbill

5

5

House Sparrow

18

53

71

 

TOTAL (species)

23

24

20

 

33

TOTAL (individuals)

443

745

341

 

1,529

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



  1. Barbarann Ayars writes:

    My birding consists of whatever appears outside the window wall of my living room. My house is surrounded by dying woods, pathetic upthrusts of pitiful things trying to continue life as trees, so I am daily entertained by untold varieties of woodpecker hellbent on devouring suet as respite from bug infested saplings. The pileated fellow grabs bark and hangs on while screaming his intent, all other birds vacate the premises and he thunders in like an L1011 and gobbles. Once satiated, off he goes and the smaller birds own the feeders. Until the blue jay arrives, but he seems intent on just saying move so I don’t hurt you. Cardinals feed all day long, beginnng with dawn, and ending at twilight, disturbed only by raptors who stalk the deck and sometimes snag lunch, leaving beak and feet for me, under the neighboring tree. Mine is the epitome of the mundane, but colorful anyway, and Audubon would say never mind, all birds count for contribution to beauty. The visiting owl amazes me; he sits for as long as six hours without moving anything but his swiveling head. I’ll take what comes, admire it and wait for the next show…grackles, mourning doves, titmice, as I record, sometimes anyway, the very ordinary, and beautiful feathered things that only require a bit of seed and a lot of suet.

  2. monica wood writes:

    Oh, and Bill, don’t worry overmuch about the siskins. They’re famously irruptive, and fickle. We had tons last year in Portland after not seeing one for about 10 years.

    • Bill writes:

      Fickle and irruptive, damn them! I would love to do CBC with you one year. I just added the previous week (grackle, ravens, belted kingfisher, mallard pair) and day after (redpolls), reflective, perhaps, of the temperature dive in between. Great to hear from you!

  3. monica wood writes:

    Dan and I did the Fore River Sanctuary. Had a red-throated loon! And yes, it was jeezly cold out there, as my father used to say.