Our Own Christmas Bird Count

Today was our own Christmas Bird Count on West Campus. Our intrepid team was Lynn, Nick and Sue. Lynn was on campus at 6, while it was still dark, to try to find a few owls. Nick joined her half an hour later, and I was there by 6:40 - with color just showing in the east. The sky was clear and the temperature may have been in the single digits... by 8:30, an hour after sun-up, it was 12 degrees fahrenheit. We had expected wind, but thankfully there was none!

The first spectacle of the day was the sight of the crow roost breaking up and heading off in all directions. We figured, conservatively, 1500 birds were leaving the trees along Frontage Road, just in front of the north entrance to West Campus. In the flock we had two positive Fish Crows, and there were probably more, but we were happy to have this new species for our list.

Lynn had no luck calling owls with her tape recorder, so once the sky was light we began birding in the nature preserve, along the river. We walked downstream, then up, birded the brambles along the parking lots behind the B buildings, birded the shrubs and pines behind the A buildings, then at 8:30 took a 15-minute warm-up break indoors.

Next we drove along the back side of the large warehouse - our good sparrow place, then went to the far south end of campus to walk the fence line as far as the river. We ended up spending quite a bit of time in the woods here, and in the overgrown dumping area, which we scanned from within and from above. Heading back up to A21 for a lunch break, we drove the lower parking lot edges looking for a few last species before calling it quits - at noon.

So, six hours of birding yielded 33 species. Had it been an actual "count day", we probably would have stayed until dusk - but since we were just out for fun, and we had had our fun, we called it a day.

1. Canada Goose ...................105
2. Turkey Vulture .................... 1
3. Red-tailed Hawk .................. 2
4. Sharp-shinned Hawk ........... 1
5. Herring Gull ........................ 12
6. Ring-billed Gull ...................66
7. Hairy Woodpecker ................1
8. Downy Woodpecker ............. 6
9. Red-bellied Woodpecker ..... 1
10. Northern Flicker ................ 4
11. Mourning Dove ................... 7
12. Cedar Waxwing .................. 1
13. American Crow .............1500
14. Fish Crow ............................ 2 confirmed
15. Blue Jay ............................... 7
16. European Starling ............. 45
17. American Robin .. ............ 121
18. Hermit Thrush ....................3
19. Northern Mockingbird ...... 1
20. Brown Thrasher ................ 1
21. Gray Catbird ...................... 1
22. Carolina Wren .................... 5
23. Golden-crowned Kinglet .. 3
24. Black-capped Chickadee .. 8
25. Tufted Titmouse ............... 1
26. Northern Cardinal ............ 9
27. Dark-eyed Junco .............. 11
28. White-throated Sparrow . 59
29. Song Sparrow .................... 1
30. Eastern Towhee ............... 1 by ear
31. American Goldfinch .........12
32. House Finch ...................... 6
33. Red-winged Blackbird...... 6

So, the special bird of the day was definitely the Brown Thrasher, which Nick spotted, but, we had a total of FOUR new species for our bird list!
Brown Thrasher
Carolina Wren
Fish Crow and
Hairy Woodpecker