Annual bird count a rite of winter OT-Orono event reports 53 species

Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count is a great incentive to get outside to go birding in the winter.

Winter birding sometimes can be sparse compared to spring-summer birding, but it does have its treats: nomads, irruptives, stragglers and wanderers delight the seeker who braves the raw winter day. It’s amazing what you can find if you really take the time to look. And if all else fails, it’s interesting to see how numerous the resident-common birds are. Any data gathered is also a valuable contribution to science, as it helps ornithologists track winter distributions of bird species.

I missed doing the Old Town-Orono count on Dec. 20. That is, I did not set out to cover a prescribed area, in this case a 176 square mile circle, within which I would try to count as many birds as possible throughout the day. Participants who go this route are assigned a specific count circle, and pay a small fee ($5) that goes toward data compilation and recording.

Because I was putting in a day of overtime, I chose the option of counting the birds that visited my feeder that morning before I left for work.

There was a lot of activity at the feeders – downy and hairy woodpeckers, red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatches, and black-capped chickadees came to make their rounds as usual. So did a large flock of common redpolls – one of my favorite winter birds.

Redpolls are denizens of the far north, and, according to the “Birds of North America” species account, are the most common species of breeding songbird. We get to see them whenever there is widespread failure of seed-crops, especially of their favorites, spruce and birch. Such an event is part of a natural cycle that has been documented to occur every couple of years. When this happens, large numbers of these birds “irrupt” from their normal ranges and spread south in search of food.

It seems redpolls have been reported pretty regularly this season, but I’m not sure how their numbers this season compare to the previous year’s.

I always enjoy redpolls – there is something so endearing about them. Maybe it’s their naivete – living as they do in sparsely populated regions, they don’t seem to be very wary of people. In fact, one took seed from my hand without a second thought.

Or maybe it’s because of their particular behavior and habits. A quote from the Birds of North America account described them perfectly:

“Their bouncy flight and rolling feeding flocks in winter fields add to the feeling of constant and exuberant activity.”

They’re a cheerful sight on a dreary winter day.

Maine Audubon’s Judy Markowsky reports this year’s Old Town-Orono CBC found 53 species, “a high number of species for this count. An average number is 46, and the record is 56.” Species counts were: black duck 4; mallard 180; common goldeneye 42; barrow’s goldeneye 16; hooded merganser 2; common merganser 15; bald eagle 5; Cooper’s hawk 1; goshawk 1; northern harrier 1; ruffed grouse 6; turkey 13; pheasant 1; herring gull 66; great black-backed gull 9; ring-billed gull 38; glaucous gull 1; Iceland gull 1; rock dove 270, mourning dove 435; barred owl 1; great horned owl 1; downy woodpecker 31; hairy woodpecker 42; pileated woodpecker 4; blue jay 159;crow 1,077; raven 11; chickadee 552; tufted titmouse 21; red-breasted nuthatch 34; white-breasted nuthatch 58; brown creeper 9; golden-crowned kinglet 10; robin 12; mockingbird 2; bohemian waxwing 4; cedar waxwing 15; shrike 1; starling 1,036; cardinal 21; tree sparrow 51; white-throated sparrow 7; junco 16; snow bunting 149; common grackle 1; pine grosbeak 21; purple finch 12; house finch 48; redpoll 123; goldfinch 138; evening grosbeak 35; house sparrow 68.

Chris Corio, a volunteer at Fields Pond Audubon Center in Holden, can be reached at fieldspond@juno.com