Each year close to 60,000 volunteer birders, from novice feeder-watchers to elite ornithologists, fan out across North and South America to identify and count every bird they see. Why? Friendly competition, science, personal enjoyment, you name it. For more info, here’s a link to the Christmas Bird Count home page online:
view link
And here’s a link to a blog entry I wrote on this topic last year:
view link
The Freeport/Brunswick, Maine CBC
Once again this year I participated in “The Bean Count,” as we call the CBC held in Freeport/Brunswick, Maine -- where the LL Bean flagship store and corporate headquarters are located. The count was held on December 30th.
“My” territory within the 10-mile diameter count circle encompasses the coastline of idyllic South Freeport, one of New England’s prettiest residential areas. There are many long driveways, private roads and “No Trespassing” signs here. But anywhere we were welcome, we sallied forth -- starting at sunrise -- to find every bird we could.
I must say, this year’s Bean Count was among the most fun and rewarding I’ve participated in. The weather was beautiful: mostly sunny with calm winds and temperatures in the low thirties. But more importantly…we kicked birding butt!
With barely enough light to tell a bird from a bush we heard high twittering in a stand of white birches. Waxwings. Cedar Waxwings are always fun to find. But this year a few Bohemian Waxwings are also present, driven south of their typical winter range by a lack of food. Squinting into the eyepiece of my spotting scope I made out crosswise white hash marks on the wings of some of the birds. 140 Bo Waxwings was the tally and we were off to a great start.
Within my territory, along the tidal Harraseeket River, lies Winslow Park, a favored haunt of the elusive Barrow’s Goldeneye. This duck is rare and local on the New England coast in winter. It’s a “must see” bird for me and my crew: it’s almost never seen in the area outside my territory. I’m so happy and relieved if we find it and inconsolably crestfallen if we don’t. This year it took awhile, but finally I glimpsed the mostly black back with distinctive white patterning of a male Barrow’s Goldeneye as it jumped from the water and took flight. Woo-hoo!
As we stood on a rocky point searching for the goldeneye and counting other ducks and gulls, we spotted some tiny, cryptic birds scuttling around in the wet seaweed attached to the rocks just above the tide level. At first it seemed there were just a few, but when they took flight we saw the flock numbered about 50. Yes! Purple Sandpipers, another bird the rest of the Bean Count participants were counting on me to find.
Moving on down South Freeport Road, I saw a blip wavering in the top of a towering sugar maple. I “knew” what bird that was, but needed positive confirmation. Putting on the flashers, pulling onto the shoulder and deploying the scope we clearly saw the hooked beak, black mask and gray/white plumage of a Northern Shrike, another winter visitor from the north and yet another great bird for the count list.
Many stops later it was 1:00 p.m. and our effort was winding down. Everybody was fantasizing of lunch and a nap. The only area in the territory left to check was the commercial strip along Route 1 from the Yarmouth/Freeport line to the LL Bean store. This area, with its motels and strip malls, has quite a few crabapples and other ornamental plantings that are holding fruit right now. This fruit is a favorite food of many birds in winter, including American Robins (we saw over 100) and waxwings.
Another bird that has been chowing all those fermenting crabapples lately is the Pine Grosbeak, a beautiful and enigmatic nomad from the far north. 2007/8 may go down in history as “The Winter of the Pine Grosbeak” in Maine, with more being reported on this year’s CBCs than ever before. But despite staring up at many a fruit-bearing bush and tree, the grosbeaks had so far eluded yours truly.
But not today! Drifting around the back of the Econ-o-Lodge on intuition, we came upon a crabapple tree festooned with eleven Pine Grosbeaks! Now we had totally nailed it and could head home in triumph, having found every bird we needed in the clutch.
The Greater Portland CBC
Another CBC I participate in every year is the Greater Portland CBC, which includes my home in South Portland. On this count the Compiler (Bill Hancock of Maine Audubon) throws me in wherever he needs me, so I’m often on new ground.
This year I covered one of the most challenging territories imaginable: the Portland peninsula, including the industrial waterfront, rail yards, historic downtown shops and “proms” (promenades) on the high ground east and west of downtown. Somebody’s got to count the pigeons, after all…
I started at dawn scanning the rooftops of wharf buildings for “white winged” (Iceland or Glaucous) gulls…and not finding any. Spent quite a bit of time on snowshoes, much of it in sight of major roads but spotting many good birds, including two Red-throated Loons, a flock of Common Redpolls and a Cooper’s Hawk ripping up a freshly killed Rock Pigeon. (No, I didn’t subtract 1 from my pigeon tally.) Finished the day strolling the icy paths of Deering Oaks Park in search of the resident Red-tailed Hawks. The miles I logged on foot far exceeded miles driven.
Was it worth it? Absolutely! I’m already looking forward to next year.
If you’ve never yet participated in your local CBC I encourage you to get out there, too -- it’s great fun and it supports the birds. What better gift to give the Earth and yourself when the daylight is short and the beauty of birds brings an extra measure of cheer?
Peace and good birding,
Scott Cronenweth
www.naturalpathwalks.com
