By the time you read this, your Christmas boxes and wrapping paper will be stuffed in garbage bags, your kids will be bored with their gifts and you will be sick of the leftover turkey.
But a certain group of wildlife lovers and their national organization will be continuing their annual effort to count turkeys, sparrows, hawks, owls and other birds.
The National Audubon Society and its legions of members and friends are in the middle of the 125th annual Christmas Bird Count, which started Dec. 14 and continues through Jan. 5.
Birders across the nation fan out with binoculars, spotting scopes, cameras and field guides, counting every bird species and number of individuals during one day in their chosen 15-mile circle. A leader tallies the results and submits them to the Audubon Society for final results.
In the Shawano County area, Navarino Nature Center director and naturalist Tim Ewing was the leader of a Dec. 14 outing that included 20 birders in four mobile units or counting at their home feeders. The Audubon Society’s map of survey circles also shows one centered at Pensaukee, led by Tom Erdman, and one centered near Caroline, led by William Bright.
As of Dec. 19, Ewing’s birders had reported 39 species and a total of 2,055 individual birds— a total that was down slightly from past years but he was still awaiting results from a few. Ewing said the best finds so far were 27 trumpeter swans, two tufted titmouse, one white-throated sparrow and one Northern shrike.
The total also includes birds counted by a group of retired women at Navarino’s bird feeders as part of Project FeederWatch, organized by Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology. While both counts supply important data on the relative abundance of bird species, Project FeederWatch is a November through April survey that is not as influenced by a single day of weather.
Most of us birders find the Christmas count a fun event, but tallying 27 European starlings and 62 house sparrows may seem silly (both are non-native species that cause devastating damage to crops and the former are a major reason for bluebird habitat loss). Birders hope they’ll spot some of their favorite birds or even something uncommon, threatened or rare.
High on my list of favorites are the high-flying, high-profile bald eagle and the osprey, sometimes called the fish eagle. Bald eagles are now a common sight throughout Wisconsin, thanks to the 1972 ban on the pesticide DDT, which caused eagle eggs to become thin and brittle.
I grew up along the Mississippi River in Fulton, Illinois, and Lock and Dam 13 there attracts up to 100 or more bald eagles every winter (as do all the river locks and dams because the open water makes for easy fishing). Bald eagles are opportunistic and will dine on dead or stunned fish and livestock as well as road kill.
Ospreys, on the other hand, are true hunters, and they are truly spectacular to watch fishing on lakes and rivers. I see them often around Oshkosh as they soar over Lake Winnebago. Power companies deserve credit for placing platforms on top of power poles so ospreys can construct nests.
Speaking of fish, the belted kingfisher is another of my favorites. They dive headfirst into the water to snatch small fish from lakes and streams, and their distinctive rack-ack-ack-ack-ack call is an instant identifier. They are one of the few bird species whose female is more brightly colored than the male.
Waterfowl offer a huge variety of audio and visual treats. What is a more soul-stirring fall sound than the call of migrating Canada geese? But if you listen closely, you will hear a different call, higher pitched and more of a whistle. In fact, the tundra swan was once called the whistling swan.
When it comes to the big woods, my favorite bird can be heard sometimes a quarter-mile away, either by its loud, raspy call or its powerful pecking. It’s the pileated woodpecker, a crow-sized bird that dwarfs the more common downy and hairy woodpeckers. I was lucky enough to snap a few photos of one and even got a short video as it pecked at a pine tree directly above my ground blind during the gun deer season.
Winters can seem long here when cold and snow settle in, but a bird feeder or two (or a few more) might be just the ticket for you to avoid cabin fever and the winter doldrums.
Have you seen birds at your feeder or in the backyard that you couldn’t identify? A good field guide and some online help can help you grow that life list.
Ross Bielema is a freelance writer from New London and owner of Wolf River Concealed Carry LLC. Contact him at Ross@wolfriverccw.com
Christmastime bird counts tally our favorite feathered friends
