Christmas Bird Count

I took part in the annual Christmas bird count last Wednesday (12/21) on the refuge. Even for 6 in the morning we had a very large turnout. There must have been around 30 volunteer birders. For some, this was their 4th or 5th bird count in a row that week (marathoners- I called them). My group and I was assigned to the north part of the refuge about 5,000 acres to cover. It was a very frigid morning, the temperature hovered around the upper 40s to low 50s all day but the 3 other birders in my group did not seem to mind. These guys were pros and could identify different sparrows by their behavior and calls. They were very knowledgeable and taught me a lot about identifying birds. We parked our cars and walked during most of the count- identifying species and them estimating the number of individuals present. We were out in the field from around 6:30am, stopped for a brief lunch and continued until 6 in the evening (12hrs of birding!). By the end of the day I was completely beat. My group and I saw a total of 66 different species of birds (I added about 11 new species to my list). We saw Harris' sparrows, Green-tailed towhees, Lark Buntings, Blue-headed Vireos, Short-eared Owls, Cooper's Hawks, a couple of odd looking juvenile White-tailed Hawks. My favorite were the prairie chickens, of course  We saw a flock of about 18 prairie chickens fly to their night roosts (I haven't seen any since i stopped feeding them, I was glad to see them doing well). After the surveying was done we went to a local restaurant in Eagle Lake and had the countdown. All together, we had a grand total of 138 species of birds- which was much better than anyone had expected with the drought- including a group who saw some bald eagles! It was my first Christmas Bird count ever and a great experience that I can easily see doing again next year.