Happy Christmas Bird Count w/Photos
It’s Christmas bird count day. In the 19th and much of the 20th Century Christmas was celebrated by the mass slaughter of birds to some extent for food but mostly for sport. Groups would often form teams or shoot individually sometimes for a prize slaughtering birds by the thousands and most often just letting them lie where they fell. What fun.
Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, an early officer in the then-nascent Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition—a "Christmas Bird Census" that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them. So now we hunt our birds with bincoulars, scopes and cameras. The bird count takes place between December 14 and Jan 5. Today is the day our local Audubon Society fans out across two counties counting every bird that can be seen. The count is an actual scientific event and the numbers contribute in various ways of climate study and conservation.
Here are a few of my "back yard" birds from the county. I live on a boat. My backyard is saltwater.
Dad out for a stroll with babies: Glaucous Winged Gulls-Brownies are babys.
Female Kingfisher-Has red breast. Males don't.
Double Crested Cormorant
Male and Female Surf Scoters
Great Blue Herron- Charlie sleeps here in the marina
Pied Billed Grebe- There were five diving little minnow off the back of the boat.
Barrows Golden Eyes: Another small diving duck
Dunlin: I didn't take this one today but Dunlin are a shorebird that winters here. I also added the color for an artistic effect. They are grey and white but it was a very cold day and I made them look frosty.
My family practiced a more useful from of the Christmas Hunt. Up to my father's generation our extended family owned most of a mountain cove and lived as largely self-sufficient farmers. After livestock feeding and breakfast, on Christmas morning the uncles and cousins would go off on a hunt which as I understood was usually for rabbits and squirrels and more than a sip or two of the good old mountain dew.
Whatever didn't get out of the way fast enough became part of a large communal Christmas dinner. Acorns and American Chestnuts powered a wildlife rich environment which they hunted for food. They would never have wasted ammunition killing for sport.
If you are into conservation consider joining your local Audubon Society. In addition to bird watching which of course we do plenty of we participate in science, education and many types of conservation projects.
Merry Christmas Bird Count.
Comments
Thought to be the best 'shot' in Britain in his time
Apparently a decent enough chap, with a very time consuming job.
Destroyed many thousands of birds for 'sport'. I don't imagine he ate them all.
And the 'sport' continues today (see Scottish Highlands).
Lovely stuff.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Thanks for the shots
we have our usual titmouse, chickadee, nuthatch, mourning dove, gold finch, a few purple finch on and around the feeder. Lots of peckerwoods around too. Heard a barred owl this morning early. That's my off the top of my head list.
Enjoyed your waterfowl pics.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
We had a 'murder' of crows in the complex today,
most we have ever seen here though not a large murder by any stretch. Still, was great to see the buggers marching around and calling to each other.
Great sighting of a falcon fly in while we were waiting for the bus earlier this week, and then two crows swoop in to chase him off.
Thanks for the history lesson!
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Barrow's Goldeneye, West Coast most likely
For more than three decades I have been a fixture of sorts at the Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary in Nebraska. During the first decade I participated in most Christmas Counts and the Eagle Count a few days later.
Even the most serious birders tolerated my, "Rip he ain't no birder", presents. The local group is very "all inclusive" and the potlucks "are to die for".
The Lesser Sandhill Cranes are flying through, but didn't hear any today. You never know when a herd will drop by to say hello.
Fun Birding Facts
When we think of Audubon and the Audubon Society we generally think of conservation. Some but not many birders are hunters. Yet in the days before expensive glass, binoculars and telescopes all scientists killed and collected species. It was the only way to get the fine details. Audubon was actually more of an artist than a scientist and was an excellent shot his glorious pictures were all posed of posed stuffed birds.
James Audubon died in 1851 but the Audubon Society was not founded until 1888 by James Bird Grinnell as part of a movement to stop market hunting for birds that were the rage of decoration for ladies fine hats. So contrary to popular belief Audubon didn't found the Audubon Society.
Many if not most birders are opposed to hunting and there are annual calls to ban hunting from National Wildlife Reserves yet the NWRs are mostly funded by a self imposed excise tax on weapons, ammunition and from duck stamps. Birders have been asked to accept a similar excise tax on binoculars and spotting scopes but it has never been popular. Many do pay a $3.00 per vehicle entrance fee but that includes everyone in the vehicle and since birders tend to be older many of us get in free because of age or a disability.
It's been years since I have seen a grebe, cute buggers.
Buffleheads and goldeneyes were my usual sightings. I was terrible with waterfowl ID. The clueless would call everything a mallard or a Canada goose, and be right, 80% of the time. Nice pix.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
what would be the reason for...
...an East coast Robin to show up in the desert region of Southern CA this month? i was quite surprised to see it just a week or so ago in my back yard. no mistaking that it was a Robin. i used to live in the eastern U.S.
Took a wrong turn at Albuquerque? :-)
Classic Bugs Bunny gag - sorry, couldn't resist
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
i LOVE bb and pals
gawd, i miss those cartoons. oh, for a simpler time.
Actually Robins are regular
Actually Robins are regular in socal in winter, but far less so in the desert, normally in foothills, coastal mountans and coastal plains. There was a Rufous-backed Robin (from Mexico) at I think Chiriaco Summit this fall, or near Desert Center. At Yahoogroups there are birding lists, one for inland socal has regular updates of what is at the Salton Sea, or wherever in inland socal. These groups exist for every state, many states have several, and often even county groups. http://birding.aba.org/
is one place where many can be viewed at will. Inland Co. Birds is the one for desert socal. Scroll down to find your area and see what is being reported around you, no matter where you are in the U.S. or Canada. Actually lots of countries have them too of course. Often things like nests, especially Raptor nests, or winter roosting owls are not disclosed due to some folks harassing, catching, or being over-zealous about their "perfect cover shot".
Second, there are actually visual differences between Eastern and Western, American Robins. The eastern birds have big bold white corners to the tail visible most easily when they fly. On western birds this is greatly reduced to almost nothing, barely some pale dusky maybe. I do not know of any records of actual Eastern type Robins in socal, but anything can happen, birds have wings and can't read the range maps the experts put in field guides.
Third, hey yellerdog, have you made any locals aware of the hybird duck? Maybe one or two a year get reported in the whole continent. It is a RARE bird. Listers (like the Big Year nuts) don't care because you can't count it. About three people broke that big year record, JUST THIS YEAR! Better pix might help positively determine parental origin. Google hybrid waterfowl, or Hooded Merganser x Goldeneye hybrid and you'll get pix of some of the combos possible. Of course in a hybrid any combo of parental characters may be present.
Fourth, Riverlover, thanks, and squirrels are not popular with me... LOL I use a plastic coated metal clothesline between two poles or buildings so they can't get to my feeders. That pole with the spring loaded mammal deterrent works fantastic, but a bit pricey.
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Great post and photos! Great
Great post and photos! Great to see some bird-aware folks here! My first CBC's (Christmas Bird Count) were in the 1960's in socal. Was a co-compiler of the Palos Verdes Peninsula count for some time in L.A. Co, CA. Have been a participant on counts from CA to San Antonio Texas to Newburyport and Cape Ann Mass. It is the largest citizen science project ever, with an unbelievable amount of data revealing much about our countries avifauna. More at the link: http://www.audubon.org/join-christmas-bird-count
As a former compiler, I want to question the Barrow's Goldeneye though. LOL. Because that is what crusty old fart compilers do. I am certain this bird is a hybrid. First fall Barrow's can show gray sides but do not have a white breast yet as your bird shows. I cannot make out even a trace of the loral cresecent which first winter males should show by now. I also do not see the poofy hind crown shape diagnostic of Barrow's Goldeneye, and how it differs from the triangular shape of a Common Goldeneye's triangular domed head, peak in center. Sometimes after much diving when wet the Barrow's poofy hindcrown can be reduced temporarily and perhaps this angle just doesn't show it well? The head color not being tawny, or bill colored, rule out a female. Barrow's has one big thick spur at the side of the forward breast. Your bird has two. I bet a dollar to a neolib democrat it is a hybrid. I suspect between Hooded Merganser and a Goldeneye, which are known, both are hole nesters in trees. Further the tail is proportionally very long, Goldeneye has a short tail, Hoody, long. With all due respect if I were the compiler I could not accept this bird as a pure Barrow's Goldeneye. Besides the lack of facial crescent, the long tail and double bar on breast side all point to a hybrid. Which waterfowl are famous for. It might even be a Scaup x Hoody, or Scaup x Goldeneye sps. hybrid. Another diagnostic aspect of Barrow's is the head shape anteriorly, which is nearly vertical and quite steep due to peak of head being far forward at the flat top. Also then they have a small triangular shaped bill. This bird shows a sloped forhead, not vertical, and a long sloped bill, not small and triangular. It is not a good clean countable Barrow's Goldeneye. The 45 deg. angle of the bill slope and forehead rules it out. Barrow's were pretty regular in small numbers at Newburyport Mass. in winter, and point blank walkup views are easy at Merrit Lake in downtown Oakland, those males are a stunning beauty of a bird.
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Serious analysis, a true birder
I am impressed. My feeders are 1) attacked by squirrels, or2) new and ignored. I saw a pole idea to squirrel-proof: suspend a slinky from the pole. Unsurpassable. Must buy one, or find the one here, easier to buy a fresh one.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.