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Bird's-Eye View: Bird-count teams saw 88 species in Forsyth
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Published: February 6, 2009
It was 5:45 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 27. The woods were quiet, and there was no moon.
"Let's try the CD," Jim Martin suggested. A high-pitched whinny came from Royce Hough's player. After a couple more tries, a trill responded in the distance, then closer. The bird glided by, almost close enough to touch, called once more and was gone -- an Eastern screech owl. High fives around, and the Forsyth County Christmas Bird Count was under way.
Martin, Hough and Kim Brand comprised one of several teams that fanned out over the county to take part in the 109th annual Christmas Bird Count, sponsored by the National Audubon Society. Last year, nearly 60,000 people took part in more than 2,100 counts throughout the United States, Canada and other countries in the Western Hemisphere. Participation grows every year. There are 46 count areas in North Carolina. Birders in Winston-Salem have been counting since at least 1940.
Observing trends
Taken alone, data from one location or one year don't mean much. Sunny weather may increase bird activity. The same is true for a cold front that may push ducks or other migrants into our area, or away from it. Snow or rain may also keep both birds and counters under cover. But 109 years of data help ornithologists assess population trends for bird species and look for causes of declines, or increases in the numbers. Scientists and the public can track current and historical data by species or by count circle at www.audubon.org.
Our local weather has been about the same for the past three years -- temperatures between 32 and 55, cloudy, with fog in the morning and some rain. This certainly is not the best weather to find and identify birds, but 36 people did their best to comb such places as Salem Lake, Reynolda Gardens, Tanglewood, Historic Bethabara, Miller Park and the wastewater-treatment plant and the landfill.
Despite the weather, Forsyth County's one-day total of 85 species was one of our better results. Three more species were observed during the three days before and three days after the count, bringing our final tally to 88. The total number of birds of all species was 10,888, which is on a par with recent years.
You probably can guess the most common bird seen. It was the European starling -- 2,349 of them. What you may not guess is that 2,000 of them were at one location -- the county landfill on Hanes Mill Road. They were accompanied by 2,200 of the 2,279 ring-billed gulls, which claimed the second spot. Recently, a tag-bearing gull at Salem Lake was traced to its capture last October at a Wal-Mart parking lot in Massachusetts. A week after the count, the same bird was seen in Hickory. Gulls get around.
The American robin, the Canada goose and the mourning dove completed the top five. Some birders have been asking where the dark-eyed juncos and white-throated sparrows are this winter. They were among the more common species, but their numbers were significantly below normal. Other common birds included the cedar waxwing, the turkey vulture, the song sparrow, the American crow, the rock pigeon and our state bird, the northern cardinal.
The most unexpected bird was a blue-winged teal at Salem Lake. This small duck is not on our winter checklist, although it regularly visits in spring and fall. Another uncommon duck at the lake was a red-breasted merganser. Over at Reynolda, a single rusty blackbird made an appearance. This once-abundant bird is on our checklist but is increasingly difficult to find. For reasons not entirely clear, its numbers nationally have declined by as much as 98 percent over the last 40 years.
The Great Backyard Bird Count will be held Feb. 13–16. This is another citizen-science project sponsored by Aububon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Anyone can take part. Just count the birds you see in your yard, neighborhood or a local park and enter results into an on-line database. Last year, nearly 86,000 participants found nearly 10 million birds and 635 species. Winston-Salem had the fifth highest participation nationwide, so join the fun. For information on how to participate, play with a kid's page, see photos, a poster and more, log on to www.birdsource.org/gbbc.
■ Beginning with this column, Bird's-Eye View will be published on the first and third Friday of every month.
■ Bird's-Eye View is a joint column by Ron Morris and Phil Dickinson. Today's column was written by Dickinson. Dickinson is a legal writer. He has been an active birder for 15 years and is a past president of the Audubon Society of Forsyth County and chairs the conservation committee. Morris retired after 24 years as curator at the N.C. Zoo. He has studied birds around the world and is currently the vice president of the Audubon Society of Forsyth County. If you have a birding question or story idea, write to Bird's-Eye View in care of Features, Winston-Salem Journal, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101-3159, or send an e-mail to birding@wsjournal.com. Please type "birds" in the subject line.
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