All the various branches of Audubon sponsor Christmas Bird Counts. This particular count was sponsored by the San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society, (www.sbvas.org). If you go to their website there is actually a part you can click on that gives you a list of all the Christmas Bird Counts and the person in charge of each count. You can pick the one you would like to attend, let them know via email, and show up the morning they show. You will be put with others in teams. Each team will then get a location, or set of locations, to go out and count birds. If you are a beginner, don't be intimidated, you will be put together with those more experienced birders who will take you to their favorite locations, as well as point out birds and help with identification tips. Especially if you are a beginner, the Christmas Bird Count is a great way to learn the area and birding.
Years ago, I decided to attend a Christmas Bird Count in Joshua Tree. I asked if my oldest son, Taylor, would like to attend. He was in High School at the time. He agreed and we got up early on the specific day and drove up the hill in darkness. We arrived first at the entrance of the Park and watched the sun rise. One of the first participants to arrive after us was a reporter for the local newspaper. She thought it was a great story for a father-son team to be out birding and contributing to science together. My son allowed the interview and even a photograph to occur, but he was mortified. Hours later it occurred to him that he didn't know anyone in Yucca Valley, so he was probably safe. We spent the day hiking around Joshua Tree, (which is always a good day), watching and counting birds. We meet the other members of the count, (all volunteers), at the local pizza place for the compilation and pizza. Taylor was happy with the pizza and tolerated the banter of us "old" people discussing the events of the day. That is until a reporter for our local paper in Palm Springs showed up and after the initial introductions, thought it was a terrific idea to feature the father-son team who had helped out with the citizen science in Joshua Tree. My son was mortified and on the way home decided he was reasonably safe, as he didn't know anyone who actually read the newspaper at school. Hopefully, no one would see his picture in the paper, and certainly wouldn't read the article.
I still have the articles. I told you that story because I attended the San Bernardino Christmas Bird Count with my now-adult son, Taylor. He could only attend half of the day, because he was driving up the coast to camp in Morro Bay. He got up with me at 4:30 AM and we got ready and drove in two cars to the San Bernardino Natural History museum in San Bernardino. This time he was not afraid of anyone knowing he had gone with me and welcomed the attention.
We met Dori Myers who was already parked in front of the museum at a little after 6:00 AM. I recognized Dori's name from the Western Meadowlark, the newsletter the San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society sends out. Her name is all over it, contributing articles, organizing events and helping run the museum. She is very personable, and always busy. She is constantly watching her cell phone, looking into a book, or searching for a pen or pencil. She kept up a constant chatter of birding trips, birding events, singing the praises of Gene Cardiff and the museum. Soon afterward, Gene Cardiff arrived. Gene has been a taxidermist, a teacher, and has recently retired as head of the biology section of the San Bernardino Natural History Museum. Now, for him, retirement means he now goes to the museum only two or three days per week. He still leads birding events all over Southern California. He still teaches, if not traditionally in a classroom, in the outdoor classroom where what he sees dictates the topic of discussion.
If you didn't know better, when you watch the interaction between the two long time friends, you might think them a couple. They banter, they laugh, they argue the familiar arguments that occur between couples daily. You know, "What did you do with my jacket?" "I didn't do anything with it." "Well, where is it?" "I don't know." "Oh, here it is, want a cookie?" Add to that the bird count conversation, "Thirteen Mourning Doves." "What?" "Mourning Doves, thirteen of them." "OK, wait, where's the list? Oh, here it is, how many?" "Thirteen." "OK, got it. Want a cookie?"
As there were only the four of us at the museum, Taylor and I went in his truck, following Gene and Dori in Gene's Honda CRV to the various locations. We were responsible for a fifteen mile circle territory that included the hospital, sewage treatment plant and some horse property near the border of San Bernardino and Riverside counties. We drove past a large paintball area with many wooden barriers built throughout a large flat area across from the county dump.
We had a very large storm that dumped a lot of rain throughout Southern California, (and postponed at least one bird count), during four or five days prior to Christmas. We saw a lot of evidence of this storm with roads to favorite spots for birding being washed out, mud scraped off the roadway, and large puddles. At least one road was still under water.
We ended up parking on the side of the road and looking at a creek bed that had a raging creek running through it. There was plenty of evidence the water level was much higher just a day or two before. We immediately saw a Merlin (Falco columbarius), sitting on a wire in the dark cloudy day. He didn't seem happy, with his feathers fluffed out and dripping from the moisture still diffusing the air. Down the road we saw not one but two Peregrine Falcons,(Falco peregrines), and one was chasing the other up the creek.
We saw many Starlings,(Sturnus vulgaris), which were mimicking other birds calls as well as chattering among themselves. In among these Starlings was a Kingbird. I found it and pointed it out to Gene and Dori. I was proud of myself and knew it was a Kingbird, but misidentified it as a Western Kingbird. They smiled in that teacherly way and said we would have to write a very long report if it was a Western, as they have all left for the winter. This was a Cassin's Kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans). This is a perfect illustration as to why I like to go to these events with an "expert". My confidence in my birding identification skills is still lacking. I am confident in several birds, but warblers and vireos especially, I will defer to others in a heartbeat. This is also why I attend these things, I learn something at each one.
Today, I was birding with two of the elite birders in the surrounding four counties, and was not going to argue with them. I was also in a little bit of heaven just being with them. Dori is excellent at identifying birds by their calls or sounds. I am weak at this skill at best. I hear the sounds, but just don't know what I am listening to. She taught me the call of the Bewick's Wren, White Crowned Sparrow, and more. She would never see the bird, but knew what she was listening to and called it out. This made it difficult to count the birds, but once she would call out a bird, I would look in earnest, and between the four of us we made a good estimate of the number and type of birds.
We moved on to the sewage ponds and had to sign in at the front desk that is behind an automatic gate. Red Tailed Hawks,(Buteo jamaicensis), were everywhere, soaring, sitting on dead snags, on poles, one eating on a cross bar of a power tower. There were several ponds that had water in them, and in the water were many different ducks. We saw Northern Shovelers,(Anas clypeata), Cinnamon Teal,(Anas cyanoptera), American Wigeons,(Anas americana), Gadwall's,(Anas strepera), at least two Buffleheads, (Bucephala alveoli), a male and female pair. We saw Canada Geese,(Branta canadensis), and spent some time looking for the Aleutian or minima variety, to no avail. Of course, there were a bunch of Mallards, (Anas platyrynchos), and I even found a hybrid duck that looked like a large Cinnamon Teal with a Mallard head, and a black cloak. We saw Green-winged Teals, (Anas crecca), and a bunch of Coots, (Fulica americana). We went to each pond and divided up the responsibility of counting the various ducks. Taylor and I got the Shovelers, Gadwalls, Coots, and Mallards. Luckily Taylor had a hand counter as he chose the Coots on one pond and we watched a large flock walk from the roadway and go into the pond. He counted 175 in that one pond.
After our day of wandering through sewage ponds, hillsides behind housing projects, a cemetery, a park, and an open field between two office buildings, we came back to the museum. I then followed Gene and Dori to the local Marie Callendar's where we met up with the other volunteers to compile the birds they found and the numbers they counted. There were 15 of us. Retired teachers, students, and couples were gathered and sharing birding adventures and using the verbal shorthand that people familiar with each other and the topic of conversation engage in. We found, collectively, around 80 species and the actual numbers of birds will be compiled and will be published later in the new year. I said my goodbyes, and drove home, where after a shower I began falling asleep in my chair. Even so, I can't wait until the next one.
You might be a birdnerd if...you schedule your holiday festivities around your birding outings.
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