The long-awaited snowfall last Friday night, which softly blanketed the ground and outlined every branch, twig, and stalk, created the perfect – and appropriate – setting for the 102nd annual National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count.

We started out at 9 a.m. Saturday for the Old Town/Orono CBC. The area we had been assigned to cover included the Old Town airport, the University Forest, Indian Island and the Witter Farm Road in Orono, as well as most of Old Town itself.

A detour to discover the whereabouts of my towed car brought us to the bridge in Orono, and the first specialty of the day – an adult bald eagle, which circled over the bridge before heading south toward Veazie. We then headed back into Old Town, and discovered five American tree sparrows near the school bus turnaround at the town line.

Next, we explored the Penobscot River just south of the Georgia Pacific Mill. Besides two male mallards, the river was devoid of ducks. We had hoped to see some common or perhaps Barrow’s goldeneye ducks – a reasonable expectation for winter waterfowl. However, a small flock of pine grosbeaks, and another sighting of an adult bald eagle, alleviated our disappointment.

Our highlights after that were a flock of 75 Bohemian waxwings, followed by a flock of 24 pine grosbeaks, on Witter Farm Road. We searched the fields for a snowy owl – one had been reported there last week – in vain.

Our last sighting of the day occurred at dusk from the Steam Plant parking lot on College Avenue. A female common goldeneye swam in solitary splendor through the sky reflected in the river.

The Christmas Bird Count has been a valuable tool in establishing population trends and movements. It is especially useful in monitoring birds that breed in remote regions, since most move further south into more accessible areas during the winter.

For example, it has shown that common redpolls, which breed in the Arctic, move south every two years in response to seed-crop shortages. Last year’s CBC tallied 12,368 redpolls, while the year before saw an incredible 135,000 of them. This year may see another increase in accordance to their cycle.

Bird Studies Canada joined the United States National Audubon Society for the CBC the first time last year and the combined number of participants (including South America), was more than 50,000. Count areas are designated by 144-square-mile circles; last year, there were almost 2,000 of these circles extending from above the Arctic circle to the tip of South America.

Another CBC for the Bangor/Bucksport area will take place on Dec. 29. To find out how you can participate – even if you stay home to count the birds at your feeder – call the Fields Pond Nature Center at 989-2591, or e-mail the address listed below.

Chris Corio’s column on birds is published each Saturday. Corio, a volunteer at Fields Pond Nature Center in Holden, can be reached at fieldspond@juno.com