A long time ago, there was a Christmas tradition to wake up on Christmas and go out and see how many birds you could kill. It was a competition worth little more than bragging rights. In the year 1900 a bunch of people got together and decided it might be better to count the birds rather than shoot them. Miraculously, this idea stuck and it became the first Christmas Bird Count. Counts are now held on the weekends within a couple weeks before and after Christmas. They are not all scheduled for the same day so you may participate in more than one.
Fast forward 118 years ahead. My friend Mike Tucker texted me on Wednesday and asked me if I would be interested in joining him on the bird count he runs on Saturday (Dec 15). I had this Saturday off so I jumped at the chance. I had never done a Christmas bird count (for now on refereed to as a CBC) before so I was very excited before we got off of the phone. The purpose of a CBC is to count all of the birds in an area. In our case, Mike's block was the Seapowet area and the northern part of Tiverton. Along with Mike and myself, we had Jan St Jean who this year has seen 294 species of birds and regualrly goes over 300 in Rhode Island. Also joining us was Greg Sargeant who is pretty well known in the birding community. Basically, I birded with experts, and I was the new guy.
Our block was one of five that ran around the Westport River, Sachuest, Tiverton and Fogland Beach area. After the count is over, all of the groups meet to tally up numbers. The point is more for science than competition. Some areas might be on the open ocean such as Sachuest, so those birders would get sea ducks, where as a woodland area would have robins and blue jays.
Our section was a little dead today. The weather although warm was wet. Not too many birds took to the skies today. I don't know the final number, but we had about 60 species. Our highlight bird was a Little Blue Heron. It was the first one ever recorded in all of the years of the count area.
We did see an adult Bald Eagle today while scanning a pond. I had two new birds for the year we heard an Eastern Screech Owl, and we saw American Tree Sparrows. I hadn't seen American Tree Sparrows all year, but they were everywhere we went today. I contributed to the count and I wasn't just a waste of a seat in the truck. First thing this morning, while waiting for Mike to get me at Pardon Grey, I heard four Killdeer. It turned out to be the only Killdeer any of the groups reported. Jan got five of the six Brown Headed Cowbirds herself. I also believe Mike got the only Purple Finch of the day, but am not positive about that.
Although birding was on the slower side, we had a good day. The count ended with 133 different species. I am told, anything over 130 is a good day. Not only would I absolutely do it again next year, I'm going to see if any counts are still going on the first week of January when I have another Saturday off!
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