Chilly, Chile and chili
Published on Wed, Jan 13, 2010 by Dave JacksonRead More Jackson
It was chilly last Monday morning as my team -- several former students from my beginning birds class, plus my wife and I - headed out for the annual Sequim Christmas Bird Count. Our mission was to find as many species as we could and count all the birds in our assigned area - a triangle bordered by the Dungeness River, Woodcock Road and Sequim-Dungeness Way.
My mind flashed back to highlights of prior CBCs. Last year, the Sequim count had 150 species, its all-time best since starting in 1975. We led the nation in sightings of pine siskins and ancient murrelets. Some of my favorite CBC sightings have been a lone female canvasback on Kirner Pond, a Steller's jay that mimicked a red-tailed hawk, three house wrens we couldn't count for lack of adequate proof of identification, flocks of 70 mew gulls in a cow pasture and 12 trumpeter swans visible from inside our house - as well as two flamingos, not countable because they were plastic.
Conservation-minded Audubon leaders and birders established this annual bird count in 1900 as an alternative to the traditional "side hunt" - a Christmas Day event in which hunters competed in teams to shoot the most birds and critters. Organizers surely were influenced by the collapse of the multibillion bird population of passenger pigeons in the U.S. after 1870 and their extinction in 1913.
The CBC has caught on worldwide and has evolved into the world's most comprehensive effort in citizen science. The past 108 years of U.S. count data are available on the Audubon Web site (www.audubon.org), along with tools for analysis and display. Supplementing this resource, I have a growing pile of hard copy, annual Audubon publications summarizing CBC findings nationwide.
Population trends of individual bird species are a valuable measure of their health. Significantly declining populations raise a warning flag, usually indicating that something is wrong in the environment. Audubon researchers have analyzed data from CBCs and spring breeding-bird surveys to create a "Watchlist" of birds in trouble. Birds are placed in two categories: red (of greatest concern) and yellow.
You probably already knew or guessed that the spotted owl is in the red group. So, too, is the sooty grouse (formerly blue grouse), a bird likely familiar to you from trips up to Hurricane Ridge. Among local birds in the yellow category are the black turnstone (declining numbers), surfbird, sanderling and trumpeter swan.
Surfbirds don't even appear on our local list of CBC birds, having never been seen on a Sequim count. In winter these birds scatter along the West Coast as far south as Chile. Yet CBC data show a nationwide high last year of 98 surfbirds on the Seattle count. Go figure.
Sanderlings, a common shorebird here in winter, are in a major decline nationwide. Their numbers have dropped to roughly 20 percent of their level in the early 1970s. Yet, per reporting on the Seattle Audubon chapter's superb BirdWeb site (www.birdweb.org), their numbers have increased on the West Coast.
Numbers for trumpeter swans show that not all population trends are discouraging. They were hunted to near extinction in the lower 48 states. By the 1930s, counts showed fewer than 100 individuals. With a hunting ban and reduction in the use of lead shot - swans ingest shot pellets along with tiny stones to aid in digestion - their CBC numbers have rebounded to about 15,000. Look for these swans in winter along Schmuck and Towne roads.
A study two years ago showed growing numbers of hooded mergansers nationwide. They can be seen around John Wayne Marina and in the pond on the west side of the road immediately south of the marina. These tree nesters breed in the woods behind the pond.
Monday evening we will have joined other count teams at the Dungeness River Audubon Center to submit totals and swap highlights, while feasting on some of center director Bob Boekelheide's famous chili. The total species count for Sequim won't be known until all the data is collated, a few days from now. In January we will post a wrap-up on our Web site (www.olybird.org).
I will participate in the Port Angeles CBC on Saturday, Jan. 3. To join us, contact Barbara Blackie at 477-8028. After that, as my Canadian friends would say, I suppose I'll just chill, eh?
Dave Jackson is "Our Birds" series editor and webmaster. The next field trip will be Jan. 10. Details on Web site www.olybird.org.
My mind flashed back to highlights of prior CBCs. Last year, the Sequim count had 150 species, its all-time best since starting in 1975. We led the nation in sightings of pine siskins and ancient murrelets. Some of my favorite CBC sightings have been a lone female canvasback on Kirner Pond, a Steller's jay that mimicked a red-tailed hawk, three house wrens we couldn't count for lack of adequate proof of identification, flocks of 70 mew gulls in a cow pasture and 12 trumpeter swans visible from inside our house - as well as two flamingos, not countable because they were plastic.
Conservation-minded Audubon leaders and birders established this annual bird count in 1900 as an alternative to the traditional "side hunt" - a Christmas Day event in which hunters competed in teams to shoot the most birds and critters. Organizers surely were influenced by the collapse of the multibillion bird population of passenger pigeons in the U.S. after 1870 and their extinction in 1913.
The CBC has caught on worldwide and has evolved into the world's most comprehensive effort in citizen science. The past 108 years of U.S. count data are available on the Audubon Web site (www.audubon.org), along with tools for analysis and display. Supplementing this resource, I have a growing pile of hard copy, annual Audubon publications summarizing CBC findings nationwide.
Population trends of individual bird species are a valuable measure of their health. Significantly declining populations raise a warning flag, usually indicating that something is wrong in the environment. Audubon researchers have analyzed data from CBCs and spring breeding-bird surveys to create a "Watchlist" of birds in trouble. Birds are placed in two categories: red (of greatest concern) and yellow.
You probably already knew or guessed that the spotted owl is in the red group. So, too, is the sooty grouse (formerly blue grouse), a bird likely familiar to you from trips up to Hurricane Ridge. Among local birds in the yellow category are the black turnstone (declining numbers), surfbird, sanderling and trumpeter swan.
Surfbirds don't even appear on our local list of CBC birds, having never been seen on a Sequim count. In winter these birds scatter along the West Coast as far south as Chile. Yet CBC data show a nationwide high last year of 98 surfbirds on the Seattle count. Go figure.
Sanderlings, a common shorebird here in winter, are in a major decline nationwide. Their numbers have dropped to roughly 20 percent of their level in the early 1970s. Yet, per reporting on the Seattle Audubon chapter's superb BirdWeb site (www.birdweb.org), their numbers have increased on the West Coast.
Numbers for trumpeter swans show that not all population trends are discouraging. They were hunted to near extinction in the lower 48 states. By the 1930s, counts showed fewer than 100 individuals. With a hunting ban and reduction in the use of lead shot - swans ingest shot pellets along with tiny stones to aid in digestion - their CBC numbers have rebounded to about 15,000. Look for these swans in winter along Schmuck and Towne roads.
A study two years ago showed growing numbers of hooded mergansers nationwide. They can be seen around John Wayne Marina and in the pond on the west side of the road immediately south of the marina. These tree nesters breed in the woods behind the pond.
Monday evening we will have joined other count teams at the Dungeness River Audubon Center to submit totals and swap highlights, while feasting on some of center director Bob Boekelheide's famous chili. The total species count for Sequim won't be known until all the data is collated, a few days from now. In January we will post a wrap-up on our Web site (www.olybird.org).
I will participate in the Port Angeles CBC on Saturday, Jan. 3. To join us, contact Barbara Blackie at 477-8028. After that, as my Canadian friends would say, I suppose I'll just chill, eh?
Dave Jackson is "Our Birds" series editor and webmaster. The next field trip will be Jan. 10. Details on Web site www.olybird.org.
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