| Counting is for the birds
Dank fog grounded some birds, and thin, gray light made many others difficult to identify. Birders had to depend on their knowledge of songs and calls to recognize many species as they stalked the fields and streams. "What's that out there chittering?" said Jeanine Felker of Rogue River, as she and four companions walked through the tall grass and white oaks at TouVelle State Park. "One of them's an acorn woodpecker," said Gary Schaffer, of White City, after he heard the woodpecker's familiar "ja-cob, ja-cob, ja-cob." Felker and her friends joined more than 45,000 birdwatchers across North and South America in the National Audubon Society's 99th winter bird count. Birders tally each species they see, and keep a running count of the individual numbers of each species. The census helps scientists determine wild-bird population trends and changes in species distribution. Birders organize the count around Christmas because winter-resident bird populations have stabilized in North America by that time. "It's an important piece of scientific data being compiled by a bunch of amateurs," said Felker, who owns Medford's Wild Birds Unlimited store with her husband, George. The count also gives birders an excuse to get together with friends and spend a day in the field, said Jim Livaudais of Shady Cove. "We'd be doing better if we split up," said Livaudais, an electrical technician at Lost Creek Dam, "but it's more fun to go with a group." Schaffer, on his fifth Rogue Valley count, said every year brings some surprises, such as nonresident birds that were blown in by winter storms, or summer residents that chose not to migrate. Livaudais found one of those surprises high in a TouVelle Park oak tree when he spotted an evening grosbeak. "That bird should have migrated out in September or October," Felker said as she peered through her binoculars to get a look at the starling-sized bird with dark head and yellow eyebrows. Birders have counted as many as 130 bird species in the Rogue Valley count, but bad weather or poor observing conditions can push the numbers down. Felker said this year's cold fog could reduce the species count to 100 or 110 species. Livaudais said the species count also might decline this year because some birds left the Rogue Valley during the Arctic cold spell that settled in just before Christmas. The species count varies dramatically across North America. Texas birders may count 230 to 250 species at midwinter. In Oklahoma, birders may see 80 or 90 species. In Alaska they might be lucky to see 50. Local tallies won't be compiled until later this month. The count began in 1900, when ornithologist Frank Chapman organized a bird census to protest the indiscriminate shooting that was common 100 years ago. Hunters in those days went out at Christmas and shot all the birds and animals they could find in a one day "side hunt," and the team with the most kills won. Chapman organized 27 friends to count birds instead of shoot them. Friendly competition still develops among veteran birders to see who comes back with the biggest species list or the most unusual bird. To swell their lists, birders sometimes mimic bird calls or play tapes of calls around places where they expect to see certain species. That trick worked Saturday for Schaffer, a retired geologist, when his tape of Virginia rail calls scared up one of the hen-shaped, meadowlark-sized birds from a bed of cattails. Livaudais said identifying birds gets easier as birders learn to see the subtleties that differentiate species. Song sparrows and Lincoln's sparrows, for example, look almost identical to novices, but "a song sparrow looks like he was done by a house painter and a Lincoln's sparrow looks like he was done by an artist. The detail is just much finer." |
