Bangor-area bird count challenged by weather

I called Jerry Smith the day after the Bangor-Bucksport Christmas Bird Count. He was jubilant. The highlight was an unusually high count of Bohemian waxwings. He estimated that the total number would be 1,200-1,500 once all the reports were in.

For the Orono count, the weather was a little challenging. The temperature was less than 10 degrees and there was a 10-mile-per-hour wind and clear skies. But for the Bangor count, the weather was much worse.

The day before the count Jerry e-mailed all his birders: “Anyone who ventures out should do so cautiously and with great care. The birds are around and if we can find them, great. But just have fun and see what you see, and that will be our count this year.”

I had a team ready to spend the day birding, and Jerry had sent me a map of our “territory” in Bangor. But from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. heavy snow fell, and the driving and the visibility did not look promising. Soon our team driver inspected the road and pronounced the condition “terrible,” so we opted out.

Jerry said, “The weather that morning got worse and worse, from heavy snow to sleet, to rain.” And as Jerry left the house his wife said, shaking her head, “You birders are just crazy.”

Jerry’s birders, however, are loyal to the Bangor-Bucksport Christmas Bird Count. One birder came from Southwest Harbor, another birder came from Skowhegan, another from Stockton Springs, one from Dixmont and one from Ludlow in Aroostook County. The others were from Bangor, Brewer, Orono, Winterport, Hampden, Orland, Orrington and Bucksport.

My team was the only team that opted out.

The tally-up get-together is a tradition for all counts across the country and in other countries as well. Jerry’s tally-up get-together was held, as always, at the Fields Pond Audubon Center in Holden. Jerry was amazed that a dozen birders stayed out all day and attended his party.

He estimated that, despite the weather, the number of species counted will be 48 or 49 – it takes several days to get all the reports in and count up the totals of each species.

A red-bellied woodpecker starred as the most unusual species of the count.

For information on Fields Pond Audubon Center, call 989-2591.