Need a new Christmas Tradition? Count Birds!

The National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count is coming soon to your neighborhood. I say this with confidence because the count happens nationwide every year around Christmas.It just so happens that Riveredge Nature Center coordinates the local effort, specifically Bird Meister Mary Holleback. 

The Christmas Bird Count has been going on for years. This year, the local count is planned for Dec. 17.

The battle is waged on two fronts. You can do a “feeder count” in which you count every bird that visits a feeder within view of your cozy kitchen/living room/sports bar/etc. for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. It is important to identify the species, but you don’t have to worry if some of the birds show up multiple times (they will). You count them every time they show up.

This may strike you as bad science, but Audubon is looking at year-to-year variations, so the rule doesn’t vary.  If the bird shows up, count it, even if you feel it has been poaching your bird seed with impunity.

The second type of assault is a "field count."  Participants show up at Riveredge at 5:00 a.m., eat breakfast, assemble teams of typically two to four intrepid souls then venture forth to assigned areas within a 15-mile circle around Riveredge.  The circle, by-the-way, includes Saukville and Port Washington extending out beyond the harbor.

It has been my good fortune in years past to comb two different areas with several expert bird identifiers. In recent years, I have set out before dawn with Charlie Mahew, climbing a path that winds its way along the crest of an esker until we settle in to Charlie’s favorite spot to listen for and call in owls. Charlie makes owl noises, and occasionally the real owls show up, perhaps thinking Charlie is the hottest thing in the woods? It is very cool.

At dawn we begin trekking through the snow (there has been plenty the last two years), identifying and counting bird species.  Two years ago we used snowshoes and needed them. Expert birders are often able to identify individual species by their bird song.  I can identify the common winter birds, and every year I learn one or two more.  Last year, Charlie took us to a spot where we might expect to see snow buntings, and just as he predicted there was a flock of eighty.  In flight they zig, zag and make figure eights in unison, flashing like silver mirrors in the air.  Spectacular!

It’s a long, physical day. I wouldn’t recommend it if you aren’t in shape, or reasonably so. Plus, the key is dressing right. There can be times when it is bitter cold then later in the day you’ll find yourself sweating. It is also helpful to take along on-the-fly snacks and plenty of water. 

But it’s oh-so-worth-it.  Four or five years ago, we hopped in a car during the late afternoon to drive around the perimeter of our assigned search area — "one last look" so-to-speak. Across the road from our search area was a field of corn stubble climbing to a hill top woodlot. We watched a steady stream of turkeys march in single file out of the woods into the corn field to search for lost kernels.  We counted ninety-eight turkeys, but had to pass on them. 

“Out of our area,” said Mark White, the expert in the group.  “Those are the rules.”

If you are interested in doing a feeder count, or getting out in it with the hardcore, call Mary Holleback at 800-287-8098 at Riveredge Nature Center, or e-mail her at maryh@riveredge.us.   Please sign up no later than Dec. 10.