Rexburg CBC
This post may be of interest to very few of you, but hey it's my blog.
It is Christmas Bird Count season. The Christmas Bird Count is a survey of birds in a 15 mile diameter circle. The official count season is from December 14th through the 3rd or something like that. There are hundreds of counts going on during that time across North America. I am the official compiler for the Rexburg CBC. We held our count on Friday, December 16th. We had a large turnout (ca. 20 participants), including 5-6 students. The weather was frightful (-8 degrees to start, but it warmed up to 14). In spite of the cold temperatures we had a great day and saw a record number of species for Rexburg. Here is our birdlist and numbers from the day:
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Great Blue Heron 4
Trumpeter Swan 196
Canada Goose 434
American Green-winged Teal 17
American Wigeon 1
Lesser Scaup 1
Common Goldeneye 113
Common Merganser 3
Bald Eagle 7
Northern Harrier 9
Cooper's Hawk 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk*
Northern Goshawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 13
Rough-legged Hawk 24
Golden Eagle 1
American Kestrel 25
Prairie Falcon 3
Gray Partridge 41
Ring-necked Pheasant 7
Wild Turkey 75
Killdeer 2
Wilson's Snipe 4
Rock Pigeon 562
Mourning Dove 11
Eurasian Collared-Dove 2**
Great-horned Owl 1
Barn Owl 1***
Northern Saw-whet Owl 1**
Belted Kingfisher 13
Downy Woodpecker 4
Hairy Woodpecker 4
Northern Flicker 37
Steller's Jay 1
Horned Lark 199
Black-billed Magpie 642
American Crow 24
Common Raven 9
Black-capped Chickadee 39
Juniper Titmouse 1**
Mountain Chickadee 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 3
Brown Creeper 1
Townsend's Solitaire5
American Robin 18
Bohemian Waxwing 95
Cedar Waxwing 11
Northern Shrike 5
European Starling 1512
American Tree Sparrow 11
Song Sparrow 24
Dark-eyed Junco 57
White-crowned Sparrow 1
Snow Bunting*
Red-winged Blackbird 1
Brewer's Blackbird 12
Yellow-headed Blackbird*
Western Meadowlark 1**
House Finch 271
Pine Siskin 2
Evening Grosbeak 8**
American Goldfinch 68
House Sparrow 1071
*seen during the week, but not on count day
**Unusual Species only seen once or twice on the count
66 Total Species (new high for the Rexburg CBC)
It is Christmas Bird Count season. The Christmas Bird Count is a survey of birds in a 15 mile diameter circle. The official count season is from December 14th through the 3rd or something like that. There are hundreds of counts going on during that time across North America. I am the official compiler for the Rexburg CBC. We held our count on Friday, December 16th. We had a large turnout (ca. 20 participants), including 5-6 students. The weather was frightful (-8 degrees to start, but it warmed up to 14). In spite of the cold temperatures we had a great day and saw a record number of species for Rexburg. Here is our birdlist and numbers from the day:
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Great Blue Heron 4
Trumpeter Swan 196
Canada Goose 434
American Green-winged Teal 17
American Wigeon 1
Lesser Scaup 1
Common Goldeneye 113
Common Merganser 3
Bald Eagle 7
Northern Harrier 9
Cooper's Hawk 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk*
Northern Goshawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 13
Rough-legged Hawk 24
Golden Eagle 1
American Kestrel 25
Prairie Falcon 3
Gray Partridge 41
Ring-necked Pheasant 7
Wild Turkey 75
Killdeer 2
Wilson's Snipe 4
Rock Pigeon 562
Mourning Dove 11
Eurasian Collared-Dove 2**
Great-horned Owl 1
Barn Owl 1***
Northern Saw-whet Owl 1**
Belted Kingfisher 13
Downy Woodpecker 4
Hairy Woodpecker 4
Northern Flicker 37
Steller's Jay 1
Horned Lark 199
Black-billed Magpie 642
American Crow 24
Common Raven 9
Black-capped Chickadee 39
Juniper Titmouse 1**
Mountain Chickadee 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 3
Brown Creeper 1
Townsend's Solitaire5
American Robin 18
Bohemian Waxwing 95
Cedar Waxwing 11
Northern Shrike 5
European Starling 1512
American Tree Sparrow 11
Song Sparrow 24
Dark-eyed Junco 57
White-crowned Sparrow 1
Snow Bunting*
Red-winged Blackbird 1
Brewer's Blackbird 12
Yellow-headed Blackbird*
Western Meadowlark 1**
House Finch 271
Pine Siskin 2
Evening Grosbeak 8**
American Goldfinch 68
House Sparrow 1071
*seen during the week, but not on count day
**Unusual Species only seen once or twice on the count
66 Total Species (new high for the Rexburg CBC)
5 Comments:
I like the Christmas Bird Count for many reasons. I like to see the numbers (though I have never participated) and I am interested in almost anything that people get passionate about. The real reason that I like it though, is the irony of the origin. As I understand it, the CBC was started by the Frank Chapman of the newly formed Audubon Society, as an alternative to wasteful hunting competitions. The irony, (to me anyway) is that John James Audubon, for whom the society is named would shoot the birds that he wanted to paint - and not just a few birds either. He once said: "I call birds few when I shoot less than one hundred per day". Even his biographer said: "The rarer the bird, the more eagerly he pursued it, never apparently worrying that by killing it he might hasten the extinction of its kind."
Something about the combination of the irony, and the pleasentness of the idea of the bird count really thrills me - but I'm weird like that... Merry Christmas!
James
Yeah, that was a different time. Audubon probably did more good than harm all things considered. I'm glad good optics allow us to identify birds from a distance rather than in the hand these days though.
James, Start a freaking blog already. :) How's married life?
Yeah, I know. Maybe after the holidays I'll give it a shot. Darren, what optics do you use? I have been looking at buying a pair of high end binoculars for a while - I'm looking at some of the newer swarovskis. Any thoughts/suggestions?
if you can afford the high end swarovskis, then go for it. that's what i would get if i could afford them. i use the high end nikons (I can't remember exactly what they're called venture series maybe)
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