With the holidays upon us, it is also the season for birders to assemble across the country to take part in one of their favorite holiday traditions – Christmas bird counts (CBCs). CBCs have been a mainstay of this time of year for decades and decades, and because of the consistency with which they've been conducted, they can help shed light on bird population and movement trends. I usually take part in one or two each year, and this past weekend I joined some friends as we went up to lend a hand in the Plattsburgh count.
Our group's territory covered Cumberland Head and a large swath north and west of the city. We started at Wilcox Dock where we had a small collection of ducks including common mergansers, mallards, and common goldeneye. There was also a snow goose mixed in with the Canada geese that were lining the far shore, as well as an American coot – a bird not expected to be found at this time of year. The flock of gulls on the water didn't contain any odd species, but a peregrine falcon began to consistently harass them. It then sat in the trees along the parking area, giving us great looks.
We then worked our way around to the Plattsburgh municipal beach (no swimming on this day!) where we counted the large flocks of Canada geese and searched them for less common species, such as cackling goose, but we didn't find any. We did have a lone flyover red crossbill – one of three lone red crossbills we would have on the day in this year of winter finches.
We proceeded to work our way around various points on Cumberland Head, finding more strings of common goldeneye and common mergansers as well as a lone horned grebe and a few common loons. We also spotted a few red-tailed hawks sitting along the fields, and we found a couple flocks of pine grosbeaks – the most exciting and least common of those winter finches – this year they are dispersed across the entire North Country.
Winter birding can be slow at times, and it is important on such counts to find active bird feeders where large numbers of birds can congregate around a food source. We worked such locations to help boost our numbers and in the hopes of finding a rare species. In one such spot with both feeders and nice ornamental fruit trees, we found large numbers of American robins and dark-eyed juncos, as well as both downy and hairy woodpeckers, pine grosbeaks, bohemian waxwings, house sparrows, house finches, European starlings, white-breasted nuthatches, and an eastern bluebird. Such mixed species feeding flocks are what we look for in winter, and our counts are significantly helped by finding them.
Another of the highlights for our day came when we found a group of about 15 red-breasted mergansers – a bird not easily found along Lake Champlain. They are a bit smaller than common mergansers with a spindly neck and bill and an unkempt punk-rock hairdo. They are always fun to see.
As the afternoon began, so did increasing snow showers and our group split up to cover the ground more quickly. But the snow was coming harder and harder. Soon it had cut our visibility down significantly, and we were trying to count geese while getting pelted with stinging sleety snow. Such are the trials of conducting bird counts in the winter in the North Country. Persistent though we were, we finally decided to call it a day and headed toward the warmth of the compilation session. Always a fun time, CBC compilation sessions bring together all the groups to tally their counts and to compare notes on what birds they found over some holiday food, drink, and treats. It was a nice way to end the day and to celebrate the holidays.
