Audubon's Christmas Bird Count is a 108-year holiday tradition
WES SMALLING Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Thursday, December 20, 2007 12:00 am
A cloud of tiny, beating wings rose and fell over the snow-covered ground outside the huge window at Casper's Audubon Center at Garden Creek.
Peering intently through a hefty pair of binoculars, Gabriel Miller, age 12, counted the fickle little house finches as quickly as he could before they fluttered away.
"…48, 49, 50," he said as the birds took off in a swarm and disappeared into a hedge.
"Are you sure?" asked Audubon Society naturalist Ken Keffer, about to pencil in the number on his tally sheet.
"Maybe 49," Miller said. "Or 51. I'll say 50."
Keffer smiled, jotting down the number. "Citizen science" isn't always an exact science. But the Christmas Bird Count is the longest running wildlife population survey in known history - and one of the best tools scientists have for monitoring the country's birds.
Now in its 108th year, the Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count is under way across the country on various dates through Jan. 5.
The Christmas Bird Count is an older holiday tradition than the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Heck, it's almost as old as Santa Claus.
At a Christmas Bird Count, groups of birders bundle up and head out into the cold to count birds at various spots within a 15-mile-diameter circle. At the end of the day, their tallies are collected to be entered into a national database.
It's citizen science in action, in which the work of everyday people gives scientists a one-day snapshot of a particular area's bird populations, migration patterns and other important avian information.
The annual counts have provided more than a century of continuous data for spotting trends in early-winter bird populations.
The first Christmas Bird Count was held in 25 locations across the country in 1900. In those days, during a time when wildlife conservation was just beginning, the country's Christmas morning tradition was to go on a "side hunt." In a side hunt, people would split into teams and go out and shoot every bird (or any other critter) they saw. The side that got the most birds won.
Ornithologist Frank Chapman, an officer in the fledgling days of the Audubon Society, came up with a bright idea: How about counting every bird we see instead of blasting them all out of the sky?
The counts began to give new meaning to the hunter's phrase "getting a bird."
More than 30 volunteers got their birds in Casper's Christmas Bird Count last Saturday. More counts are taking place around Wyoming and beyond in the coming days.
A bird count is a social event as much as it is a science project. The teams divide and head out to different locations. On Saturday, a few folks stayed behind at the (cozy and warm) Audubon Center.
At the end of the day, the counters gather to share their results and chow down at a potluck dinner. The competition of the old "side hunt" is still alive. A little haggling over the results usually takes place.
"There's sometimes some controversy, people arguing over who saw what, and what should or shouldn't be counted. In case you haven't noticed, there are some egos around here," said veteran birder Donna Walgren, with a wink.
Yeah, there's a hotshot birder in every crowd who's sure to set the record straight when you get your flycatchers mixed up with your kingbirds.
But even if you don't know a house finch from a Cassin's finch, you're still invited. Novices and first-timers are teamed up with more experienced birdwatchers at Christmas Bird Counts, so the events are a great chance for new birders to get a crash course on all things avian.
One of the most experienced birders at Casper's count was state Sen. Charlie Scott, who's been coming to Casper's Christmas Bird Counts for half a century.
"My dad did the first Casper count on Jan. 1, 1949 - the first day of the Great Blizzard of '49," he said.
Scott, who will host a Christmas Bird Count at his Bate's Hole ranch on Jan. 1, said urban development and a perennial flow in the North Platte River have "radically" changed the types and numbers of birds in the Casper area over the years.
For example, house finches are everywhere now.
"Some of the counts in the '50s had none of them," he said.
Bald eagles are more common now too.
"We used to have one, two, three bald eagles. Now we see 20, 30, something like that."
Other birds are not faring so well, and Christmas Bird Counts help scientists monitor trouble species such as mountain plovers, Baird's sparrows and Swainson's hawks. According to the national Audubon Society, one in four bird species in the United States is at risk from habitat loss, invasive species and global warming.
"It's not all doom and gloom," Keffer says. "The bald eagle's coming back."
Admittedly, some Christmas bird counters get a little tired of counting hundreds of city-dwelling house sparrows and house finches.
"It's just part of the job," shrugs Bruce Walgren, director of Casper's Murie Audubon Society Chapter. But, he added, in between the run-of-the-mill counting of crows and robins, something exciting can happen.
And it did on Saturday. Outside the Audubon Center's window, the bird everyone had been waiting for arrived.
"The hybrid's here," Keffer said, rushing to the back room to fetch his camera.
A spotted towhee/green-tailed towhee cross had been showing up at the Audubon Center's feeder all week and Saturday it popped by and made an appearance for an excited audience of binocular-peering birdwatchers.
The ruby crown on the top of its head is a dead giveaway that it's a hybrid towhee.
But you already knew that, right?
Of course you did.
The next Christmas Bird Count in the Casper region will be held at Bate's Hole on Jan. 1. Meet at the Two Bar Ranch at 7:30 a.m. Call state Sen. Charlie Scott for more information at 473-2512.
The Bate's Hole count is a good opportunity see sage grouse and golden eagles.
"Stay for a half day, a whole day. You come for a whole day, I feed you at the end," Scott said.
Other upcoming Christmas Bird Counts in Wyoming:
Dec. 28
* Guernsey-Ft. Laramie. Contact Jane Dorn at linglebird@yahoo.com or (307) 640-4002.
* Sundance. Contact Jennifer Adams at (307) 283-2467.
Dec. 29
* Riverton. Contact Wanda Major at (307) 856-6690.
* Cody. Contact Joyce Cicco at (307) 527-5030 or jcicco00@tritel.net.
* Story/Bighorn. Contact Jean Daly at (307) 674-9728.
* Gillette. Contact Mark Winland at mwinland@ccsd.k12.wy.us.
* Pinedale. Contact: Fred Pflughoft at (307) 367-2037.
Dec. 30
* Teton Valley. Contact Susan Patla at (307) 413-1222 or susan_patla@hotmail.com.
Jan. 1
* Crowheart. Contact Evelyn Wilkinson at (307) 856-3557.
Jan. 5
* Cheyenne. Contact Greg Johnson at (307) 634-1056 or gjohnson@west-inc.com.]]->
The visitor center and nature trail at Casper's Audubon Center at Garden Creek are open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Weekend visitors are welcome to walk the trail (sign-in on the porch so they know who's dropped by).
At the Audubon Center you can chat with other birders and take a walk on the 450-acre property to see what kinds of birds are hanging out at the feeders.
Getting there: Take Poplar Street south toward Casper Mountain, crossing Wyoming Blvd. Drive about 1 mile and turn left at Audubon Center sign. Continue a few hundred yards and the visitor center is on the right. For questions, call 473-1987.
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Column by Chris Michelson
Special to the Star-Tribune
At Saturday's Casper Christmas Bird Count, 31 hardy souls braved the less than ideal conditions to count all of the birds they could find in a 15-mile diameter circle centered off Coates Road. The temperature was 2 degrees below at the start, but warmed a bit as the wind cranked up. Despite the weather and nearly all water frozen, a new record count was obtained. Some 14,143 individual birds were observed. The bad news is that most of the increase was due to the proliferation of European starling and rock pigeon.�
Yellow-bellied sapsucker and fox sparrow were new to the count this year. Wood duck and pine grosbeak were observed for the first time in several years. Most unusual was the observation of a spotted towhee/green-tailed towhee hybrid, which had been coming to the feeders at the Garden Creek Audubon Center.�During count week, but not on count day, a lucky person had a juniper titmouse coming to their feeder.�
Results of the Casper Christmas Bird Count:
4,830 European starlings
2,611 house sparrows
1,068 Canada geese
1,008 mallards
940 rock pigeons
660 house finches
466 American robins
425 horned larks
208 American crows
197 dark-eyed juncos
171 common goldeneye
149 cedar waxwings
130 black-capped chickadees
115 hairy woodpeckers
114 Eurasian collared-dove
105 black-billed magpie
105 mountain chickadees
97 wild turkeys
94 Bohemian waxwings
77 ring-billed gulls
69 American tree sparrows
63 American goldfinches
35 golden eagles
34 bushtits
32 blue jays
22 Clark's nutcrackers
22 bald eagles
21 American green-winged teal
21 American widgeon
21 red-tailed hawks
20 Townsend solitaires
18 red-breasted nuthatches
17 sharp-shinned hawks
15 Stellar's jays
14 common ravens
13 downy woodpeckers
12 common mergansers
10 rough-legged hawks
9 northern harriers
9 great horned owls
9 white-breasted nuthatches
9 red crossbills
8 song sparrows
8 pine grosbeaks
7 pine siskins
7 evening grosbeaks
4 ring-necked pheasants
4 prairie falcons
4 pygmy nuthatches
3 gray partridge
2 wood ducks
2 hooded mergansers
2 Cooper's hawks
2 ferruginous hawks
2 belted kingfishers
2 brown creepers
2 fox sparrows
2 Cassin's finches
1 gadwall
1 ring-necked duck
1 great blue heron
1 herring gull
1 northern goshawk
1 merlin
1 yellow-bellied sapsucker
1 Harris' sparrow
1 spotted towhee/green-tailed towhee hybrid
Total number of species: 68.
Total individuals on count day: 14,143.]]->