…found in one little section of Talbot County early in December, during the Talbot Bird Club‘s Christmas Bird Count. The count is going on all over, of course, and the data we collected will be added to the national count. These are the data that inform how climate change, for instance, is affecting bird and animal species.
I noticed the bird count on the internet, and connected online with Les Roslund, Talbot birder and Treasurer of the Talbot Bird Club. It was cool to be a part of it – and once again, I was incredibly lucky and met a wonderful teacher.
I met up with Les Roslund at the top of the Bozman road this morning at 7am – it was dark. He had a clipboard, boots, a hat and his eyes shined with a warm smile. We started by listening there, by the side of the road – listening for owls. Our team was responsible for the northern part of the Bozman-Neavitt peninsula, and Les had gained permission to bird on a number of private properties.
We stopped at some terrific waterfront properties. The first was a farm on Harris Creek that has perhaps the area’s only collection of Icelandic sheep who trotted over to say hello. They were beautiful animals.
Using a powerful scope that could bring tiny ducks into sight a half mile away, we counted. Or, rather – Les counted, and I recorded. We listened and watched.
He talked about birds, and showed and taught and shared for 5 and a half hours. Les knows birds. At the end of our session, we had counted 1356 birds encompassing 46 different species. That’s a lot! But these numbers are typical for the local bird count.
A kind and gentle teacher, Les gave me a peek into the birding world that I never saw. Sure, I watch the birds at my feeder, and can identify the basic backyard birds that anyone else can. But on that day, I learned a little about how to listen.
My brother-in-law Mont knows birds by their song and call, and will, while walking through the woods, occasionally cock his head and say “eastern peewee” or some such thing. And I wouldn’t have heard a thing at all. Loons and tundra swans are easy to hear, of course, but tiny birdsong high in the trees is something different.
But after that day, I’ll hear it.
I may not be able to identify it….
but, I will be listening.
Cool. Thanks, Les!
The total number for the Talbot Bird Count was 101 species and 87,000+ species. That number included sightings of 23,180 red-winged blackbirds and 38,263 Canada Geese. Les reports that the Talbot Bird Club was pleased with the results, which were good, in part, due to the mild weather.
As usual, numbers were up for some species, and down for others. The birders, like many Talbot residents, recognized that many of the migratory ducks and geese have not yet arrived. As the temperatures drop, we can expect to see more migratory birds arrive each day.
For more information about the Talbot Bird Club – see their website.
Here is the list of birds that were counted in our little neck of Talbot County (Les stayed out much longer than I, and picked up four more species and hundreds of individual birds.)
RESULTS for the Roslund-Bosin part of the Broad Creek Sector Count:
49 species
Canada Goose 1890
Tundra Swan 10
American Black Duck 26
Mallard 134
Surf Scoter 1
Long-tailed Duck 3
Bufflehead 82
Common Goldeneye 37
Ruddy Duck 2
Common Loon 7
Horned Grebe 3
Great Blue Heron 3
Turkey Vulture 5
Northern Harrier 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 6
Ring-billed Gull 3
Herring Gull 7
Eastern Screech-Owl 1
Great Horned Owl 5
Belted Kingfisher 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker 6
Downy Woodpecker 8
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 6
Merlin 1
Blue Jay 65
American Crow 20
Carolina Chickadee 12
Tufted Titmouse 15
Red-breasted Nuthatch 5
White-breasted Nuthatch 6
Carolina Wren 9
Eastern Bluebird 22
American Robin 30
Northern Mockingbird 9
European Starling 6
Cedar Waxwing 103
Yellow-rumped Warbler 7
Song Sparrow 47
Swamp Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 22
Dark-eyed Junco 47
Northern Cardinal 17
Red-winged Blackbird 443
House Finch 10
Pine Siskin 5
American Goldfinch 30
House Sparrow 5
alice sewell says
Good for you Kathy. If I wasn’t such a lazy old ……….. i’d have been with you.