Count Day!

"Hurry up and count me, so I can get back to suet!"

As my past entries on the subject indicate, the Christmas Bird Count has been a special event for me. From a first time exposure to the great people that one can meet while birding, to unexpected encounters with new species, and revelations about new ways to expand identification skills the CBC has always been a highlight of my birding year. This year presented a new challenge, to organize and lead a territory count. While I had my hesitations, I was flattered to be asked to do so by the count organizer. My concern was that I would be taking an opportunity from a more experienced birder, but the need remained and I was happy to give it a shot.

Two of three Coyotes, calculating their chances of success with a group of Mule Deer just after sunrise.

I began by mapping out what I thought the best locations in the territory would be, and then driving around to see what did and did not meet expectations. As I guessed, some of the peripheral areas were our most productive. My guess that some of the creek corridors running through the neighborhoods would also be good turned out to be completely wrong. A large area of trails on University of Colorado pasture/prairie restoration land also ended up being a major bust. That area did generate a Northern Harrier and juvenile Bald Eagle, but failed to produce species our team hoped to find, like Western Meadowlark or Ring-necked Pheasant; all at the cost of over an hour and several miles of extra walking. I believe birders would still be well advised to look to that area on future counts, but may look for ways to check it and similar areas more quickly. Leaving a vehicle at both ends of that trail is a refinement I would consider for future years. Multiple vehicles would have allowed for an end to end search, but without the team having to make a full loop in an area that we quickly determined was under productive.

American Kestrel - hover-hunting in the breeze.

In a bit of a surprise for me, our best habitat turned out to be the last houses on the edge of the open space just before the foothills. I knew they were going to be good, but our species counts from trails running just beyond the developments and the streets on the opposite side of those homes, gave us the greatest species diversity. That transition zone netted us three species of jay, two woodpeckers, both chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creepers and Townsend's Solitaires, along with two different raptors and many other more common species. During the count compilation, those teams reporting Western Scrub-Jays all found that the species turned up at the perimeter of developments, just as they approached the lower edges of ponderosa pine forest. Not Earth shattering, but a cool confirmation and as I look back at my previous sightings, (Red Rocks Park and Roxborough State Park), one that holds true throughout the Denver area.

Western Scrub-Jay - a species we found in a very specific habitat belt.

Once again my expectations were completely blown out of the water by the people who volunteer for the Christmas Bird Counts. I had three great volunteers, each an accomplished birder and all three were people who had a good time just getting to know the others while being out seeing some cool birds. Each of us spotted species that made for 'good' adds to our day list, and I think as a group we all made one another stronger with our varied backgrounds and skills.

Townsend's Solitaire - a welcome sight on each of my Boulder CBCs to date.

We had a section that was as advertised, it produced a good list of fairly common birds. There were some birds that we were surprised we did not run across during the day. White-crowned Sparrows, Mourning Doves, and Belted Kingfishers were all misses for our count, and despite our best efforts we could not produce a roosting owl. It is amazing to me that even when spending an entire day dedicated to watching for birds, some of the more common species won't turn up.

Brown Creeper - an elusive bird that gave us good looks, and was a lifer for at least one member of our team.

When I look back on this count I hope the lesson I will remember is that identification skill isn't a prerequisite to bringing others together for good birding. Having been taught and lead by so many great birders in the past couple of years I guess I just hadn't seen what happens when a bunch of willing folks get together and bird. It turns out that if you pick a meeting place and have a general idea of where you want to go the rest will take care of itself. In our case one participant even lived in our count area, and invited the three strangers to her home at six in the morning for breakfast - how often does that happen these days?

I hope that all the members of the Bear Creek team had as good a day as I did. Thank you very much to each of them, Bill Schmoker the count compiler, Bill Kaempfer who hosted the compilation potluck that evening, and to all the other birders who participated. To all of them and for anyone reading this...

...may your Holidays be filled with family and friends, food and fun, fur and feathers, and if your location favors it at least a bit of frost!


Bear Creek Territory 2010 Total: 30
Boulder CBC 2010 Total: 114, (A count day record by 5 species) plus 1 'free-flying presumed escapee' and 2 additional count week birds so far.

A Few More Count Day Images

Just a few more shots taken on the Boulder Christmas Bird Count last Sunday.

There were White-winged form Dark-eyed Juncos, one that I don't know that I have previously photographed.


Nuthatches were all about, and for whatever reason Sunday was the day that the Red-breasteds were the most photogenic.


I really enjoyed the chance to spend hours learning and then practicing identifying the dramatically different calls of the various Nuthatches. Hopefully I will have a chance to hear a few in Minnesota over the next few days.


A Townsend's Solitaire is no stranger to a perch atop a juniper, but this one stopped close as we were gathered next to, and just upslope of his perch. It was the spot from which we had been observing the Northern Pygmy Owl, and ended up being well lit for the Solitaire as well.

To any and all, may your Holiday be filled with family and friends, food and fun, fur and feathers, and if your location favors it at least a bit of frost!

Sometimes, You Just Get Lucky

I knew that the Christmas Bird Count in Boulder would be good, they always seem to be. This year was no exception, but there was one highlight that I didn't even consider prior to the count.
Note the size of the bird in the picture below, it is roughly twice the size of a Ponderosa Pine cone.


We never would have seen it, if I hadn't followed a likely Townsend's Solitaire toward the top of the same tree. We moved around for a closer view, and I was quickly tipped by the count leader to a trait that made it definitely not a Solitaire - it has a relatively fat head! The count leader, being far more experienced than I, already had a good idea what it may be, and was trying to disqualify it. I picked up on the spotting, before I moved around to the side for a better view. It was from there, and approaching behind a tree, that I got all of these shots.

The bird, was an unexpected site, a Northern Pygmy Owl! These tiny owls are incredibly difficult to spot. This one was silent, but apparently they can be heard fairly readily, but usually hang out deep inside evergreens, not on low hanging bare limbs.

This one was content to sit for some time, giving us good views as it rotated through multiple angles. It was unfazed as we stood and exclaimed our good fortune to one another.

I can't express just how tiny this owl is when seen in the wild. It seemed almost like an over-sized, puffy junco. The last treat that this great bird had in store was when it took off to pursue a junco as it flew by. They really appeared to be close to the same size, before they were gone in an instant, lost amongst the trees.

I am sure that in time I will lose the memories of some the species that I saw today, some of the lessons I learned about identifying bird calls will have to be revisited, but once again a Christmas Bird Count has given me at least one memory that I know will take years to erase at the earliest. Betasso Preserve, this fun little slice of nature just outside Boulder, seems to have that characteristic for me. My first visit was my first CBC, my first sighting of Pygmy Nuthatch parents returning to feed there young were here, my unforgettable first wild American Black Bear sighting, a handful of species added to my life list, and now most recently a new and most unexpected Owl. I look forward to many more visits and surprises.

Coming Soon - CBCs!

Or, if you are in a really early area, they are here as of today! That's right the 'longest running wildlife census', is back for its 110th running, the Christmas Bird Count.
I will be participating in my second year of Christmas Bird Counts this year. As indicated in my previous post, the CBCs have, and will probably continue to have a special place in my birding consciousness, as I am sure they do for many others for a variety of reasons. For me they represent my first exposure to group birding, and will hopefully remain as a yardstick against which to measure my experience and ability from year to year.
An update to my previous posting on the Boulder CBC: I have confirmation that I will be returning to the same count area that I was at last year, this time seeing it with a whole new group of eyes for company. I wonder what I will learn this year? I have already learned that the weather will be dramatically different from last year's count:



AccuWeather.com tells me that Boulder is in for much more mild weather than last year, when we only briefly saw the sun from our location up on the ridge, and the counters in the valley below had to endure a full day of overcast skies and falling snow. That count will be this coming Sunday, I can hardly wait. My only reservation is that I will be carrying my on-call pager for work, and will have to trust to luck for an uninterrupted count. Failing that, I am only minutes from work and will just have to keep my vehicle close, so no extra carpooling for me.
In addition to the Boulder count, I have also signed up for this year's Loveland count, on New Year's Day. That count is in its second year, and should be a quite different experience again, as I believe that there are fewer participants in that one. Since it is still a ways off, held on New Year's Day, I have no idea what I will be in for but look forward to the surprise. (It says quite a bit about my level of frustration with my CU Buffaloes football program that I am abandoning all the bowl games that day, but a healthy day outdoors sounds much better, as my alma mater seems destined for a drought before its next New Year's appearance).

I was flattered to receive a call from the leader of the group with whom I had participated at last year's Denver count. He wanted to check to see if I was still planning on rejoining the count. Unfortunately, I am unable to do so as that count is on Saturday the 19th, and my on-call leash doesn't reach that far - even for a good excuse. Sadly, even were I to be able to free up time I would be unable to attend, as my friend's just-out-of-town wedding would be the next priority on my list. Even so I was impressed to be contacted by the leader. As a first year participant last year, I know I wasn't the most valuable asset to have along. But even now, a year later, the leader gave my cell a call to see if I was interested in coming back. I have been involved with many volunteer projects where the communication was not that well done, and wish that there was a way I could be in three places at once this Saturday.
So, as a good faith appeal, let me ask for another consideration from the small, but hopefully growing, audience of this bit of avian digital clutter. If you have already given blood in the past 8 weeks, and have signed up with the national organ donor registry, and still have a few hours to spare on Saturday in the Denver area please think about signing up for the:

56th Denver Christmas Bird Count

Please hit the National Audubon site to preregister, it is the count with the four letter abbreviation CODE, or contact Count Leader/Compiler: Dick Schottler (303-278-8035, birdschotuswestnet) and I am sure he will be happy to point you in the right direction.

For those of you not in the Denver area check out the site and throw in your hometown or holiday destination to the search tool. I guarantee you won't be disappointed with a few hours or a full day spent in the outdoors this holiday season!

Nature Food for Thought

Yesterday I planned for the cold and left for work an hour early. I don't know why the temperature makes traffic crawl, but based on the hype the morning news was giving the temps I knew it was either going to be a stop & go affair, or everyone would be afraid to open their doors and I would have the roads to myself.

As it was the drive was slow, but I still arrived nearly an hour before I normally do, which had the benefit of giving me a chance to get away for a bit more time at lunch. I took the opportunity to head up to Eldorado Canyon State Park, which is a bit of a stretch in an hour, and had the extra bonus yesterday of being sheltered from the wind.

I grabbed some lunch on the way, and ate in the sunshine with my window down. The Chickadees serenaded my midday meal, but remained well out of sight in the treetops. I believe they were the Mountain variety, but don't trust my ear to be positive.

Since nothing was visibly moving while I ate, I decided to try out a new tool - the iBird app I recently added to my iPod. I pulled up a few likely species and played their related calls.

Nothing responded to closely, until I played the Canyon Wren, the species we had heard last weekend in Deer Creek Canyon. I have also seen this species in later months just to the north in Gregory Canyon, so it seemed worth a shot.

I did get a response, but it didn't sound anything like a Wren. A series of pleasant, slow, staccato notes queried through the air. My best guess after listening to a few others later in the day was that it may have been a Pygmy Nuthatch. As I have stated in previous posts, I am flat out bad at identifying birds by ear, but hope to improve. The iBird app, along with the Smithsonian Guide CD loaded on my iPod, will hopefully be a way to make some inroads.



While I sat, not seeing birds, I was thinking a bit about how consuming birding is for some folks, and if that carries an intimidation factor for others. I am looking forward to the upcoming Christmas Bird Counts, and it took me back to last year, when just over a month in I decided to sign up for the Boulder CBC. For me, birding is mainly a solo activity. I have many friends, and while we frequently engage in camping trips and other outdoor activities, none of them are too interested in waking up well before dawn to head out in cold weather to find some birds. Granted, they don't know what they are missing, but I can't say I blame them. Until late 2008 I would have been right there with them, looking to sleep in.

So my concern for others, on looking back at last year, is that there are those out there who enjoy getting out and watching birds, or have a feeder and look up the visitors in a book, but who wouldn't really consider trying to talk their friends into tagging along for a first Christmas Bird Count. For me, the concern I expressed to the count organizer was that I didn't want to be put with a group whom I would hold back. I like meeting new people, and wasn't concerned that I would be miserable, rather that they would be because of my lack of skills - little did I know at the time just how lacking I was. I know others in my life for whom jumping into that type of an experience for the first time without others to join them would be enough reason to just stay home on a warm couch.

As it turned out, I was with three very esteemed birders, and as a bonus they were all bloggers who I have been able to follow since. It was my first group birding experience which had the dual effect of showing me what a difference experience makes in birding, and also just how enjoyable the whole process can be regardless of skill level. I was also fortunate in that all three had jobs in the birding world and shared a knack for interacting with others on the topic. Some birders can be less 'people people', and while still enjoyable would not have been as engaging for a first timer as they were.

As I was signing up for this years edition of the same count the organizer checked back to let me know that a different birder would be covering that territory. I replied back that he could put me with any group that needed an extra set of eyes, at this point I know I will have a blast, and learn something in any group. I am confident enough now that I know I can at least make a contribution, even if I am not pulling out obscure IDs.

I guess the emphasis of this ramble is that if you are like I was, a just getting started birder, and are wondering whether you can just sign up for one of these Christmas Bird Counts by yourself, the answer is unequivocally yes. Count organizers are there to make groups that work, and they will understand if you are new to the game. I can't guarantee anything about your experience, just like I have no idea what I will see or who I will be with this year, that is part of the fun. I can say with confidence that the experience will be well worth five dollars, and the first count will be one that will stand out for years to come.

To find out more go to the getting involved page or just search for a count in your area.