Pacific Views

Christmas Bird Count

Yesterday I participated in the local Christmas Bird Count. It was a beautiful temperate winter day, cool, but not too cold, sunny and very birdy. We saw lots of Canada Geese and had numerous ducks on the ponds. One of my favorites was the Lessor Scaups. This guy got close enough for a good shot.

This year one of the people that joined me for my route was a woman who is a foster mom on the weekends and she dragged along a fifteen year old girl, Susan, who had never bird watched before to participate. Despite the chill and long hours, Susan enjoyed herself very much and volunteered to keep the tally sheet. She found the variety of ducks surprising and the great blue heron that was posing in the tree fascinating. Indeed, she gave me her contact information so that I could get ahold of her for another round of birding. Perhaps she's got the birding bug too? If so, the day was a real success in more ways than one because as this article says, besides being an important activity of citizen science, the CBC also serves to introduce newcomers to the natural world and the creatures that share it with us.