Counting crows … and eagles, owls, cardinals & woodpeckers

SHARON — To the unsuspecting, there were some odd sightings around town on Sunday, Dec. 30. Grown men whistled, chirped and cawed. Strangers stared with binoculars into residents’ backyard birdfeeders. People drove around in frigid, 27-degree weather with their windows rolled down. Small crowds stood in the middle of fields or forests, their eyes glued to the sky.

But to those familiar with the annual Christmas Bird Count, in its 119th year, there was nothing unusual about the eccentricities of the time-honored tradition. Each December during one 24-hour period, amateur and avid birders fan out within a 15-mile radius of The Hotchkiss School to count birds they see or hear in fields and woods, backyards and treetops.

The Sharon Audubon Center sponsors the annual event known as the Trixie Strauss Christmas Bird Count. It was originally scheduled for Dec. 16 but icy road conditions caused it to be rescheduled to Sunday.  By the time the day-long event ended, more than 12,136 birds, and 76 different species, had been counted throughout the Lakeville/Sharon area, according to Zach Adams, compiler for the Lakeville/Sharon count. 

On a national level, the annual Christmas Bird Count, which takes place Dec. 14 through Jan. 5, is the Audubon Society’s effort to assess the health and status of both resident and migratory bird populations over time. The count, North America’s longest running wildlife census, also helps individual states identify the huge variety of bird species that live in and migrate to their communities.

The event is a highly anticipated one for birders like Adams, who is in his second year as the volunteer compiler for the Trixie Strauss Bird Count.

 “This is probably my favorite day of the year. You hustle around different habitats and find as many birds as you can,” said Adams, an expert birder, as he led a 10 a.m. winter bird walk attended by a handful of hearty souls around the Audubon property as part of the day-long compilation.

Adams was joined by Evelyn Cass, and the duo was responsible for covering the south Sharon section, one of nine areas assigned to avid and amateur birders. Their day began at 3 a.m., well before the crack of dawn. At 4 a.m., under the cloak of darkness with a light snow falling, they went in search of owls. “We found four species,” said Adams, including the screech owl, great horned owl, barred owl and Cass’ favorite, the adorable saw-whet owl.

“They are really cute,” Cass said of the small, light brown birds known for their large, round heads, short tails and lack of ear tufts. “They look like little marshmallows.” 

As the bird walk progressed through an open field bordered by thicket, Adams stopped in his tracks as he heard a familiar call. “Oh, we have tree sparrows,” he announced, as he imitated the birds’ language. Within minutes, he heard the sound of a red bellied woodpecker, and seconds later, a cardinal darted by. Thanks to technology, counting has become much easier. Adams took out his smart phone and logged his sightings on an app.

For the next hour, what started out as a very still and silent walk across frozen fields and paths became a hub of avian activity. As if on cue, four ravens and a bald eagle made their sudden appearance.

 “The bald eagle definitely has made a big comeback,” said Adams, who took turns with Cass as they peered through binoculars at the majestic bird circling overhead, likely scavenging for fish from nearby Ford Pond. “Most birders get bored with them, they are so common now. It’s tough to go a day without seeing one.” 

As the group circled back to the main parking lot, “This is not just for birders, it is for everybody,” Adams said of the bird count. Not everyone needs to go out into the cold to track down birds. The easiest way to be a part of the effort, he said, is to fill your birdfeeders and sit back and wait for visitors.

While the walk ended around 11 a.m., Adams and Cass still had many more hours, and miles, of birdwatching ahead of them. They planned to drive around the area with the car windows down so they could listen for bird calls. “He won’t even put the heater on because it drowns out the birds,” laughed Cass.

Over the years, participation has been noticeably lagging, say organizers.  Most people prefer to do their bird watching in the warm months, said Adams, noting that “the ratio of year-round residents is definitely decreasing.”

Those few dozen who participate, though, are a dedicated close-knit group. Sharon Audubon became bird central around 5 p.m. Sunday, when several dozen birders reported their findings to Adams. They shared stats and stories, food and drink and plenty of high-fives.

“The incredible part, though, is that regardless of how slow the day may have been, we still found over 12,000 birds in just our 15-mile circle! It was definitely a good day for all and I as always look forward to the count next year,” said Adams.

Bird count day wasn’t always in favor of our fine feathered friends. Prior to 1900, because guns were popular Christmas gifts, people would go out and shoot as many birds as they could find. But in 1900, birders in more than a dozen states decided to count birds instead of shooting them, and thus the Christmas Bird Count was born. “Over the years,” said Adams, “the culture’s changed it.” Today, the count has expanded through most of the Western Hemisphere.