Christmas Bird Count (Shallow Thoughts)

Christmas Bird Count

Sunday was the annual Christmas Bird Count, and we had unusually good weather for it: sunny, windless, not too cold.

It started with a bang at Overlook Park when a bunch of starlings flew over ... followed by a small falcon. I'm not good at identifying falcons because I see them so seldom, but fortunately I was with an experienced birder who sees merlins at her house and confidently IDed this one. A life bird for me (I'm sure I've seen them, but never been sure enough of the ID to count one), and also a bird that was on the list of birds to watch for since they hadn't been seen so far during the count week.

That was the only rarity we saw at Overlook, but we did see some wonderful "usual suspects", like the flock of 40 mountain bluebirds near the water treatment plant. I never get tired of seeing bluebirds, and that goes double for mountain bluebirds with their bright sky-blue plumage. These were considerate enough to perch in front of Overlook's unusual columnar tuff cliff, another thing I never get tired of seeing. I only had my phone camera, and it doesn't do them justice, but here's the photo anyway.

We picked up another bird on the watch list at the Overlook platform, when a rufous-crowned sparrow flitted under and past the platform and then eventually came to perch on the wall about four feet behind where we were standing. I was the first one to notice the sparrow when it was still well below us, though someone else made the ID. Plus two more from the list: a rock wren that Bob flushed by playing rock wren calls, and a pair of Canada geese on a sandbar down at the river (my little scope was just barely enough to identify them).

Later, walking the Estante Way loop, we picked up yet another bird from the unseen list, a curve-billed thrasher. (Most of these birds aren't actually rarities here, but this has been a strange year, and a lot of birds that are usually common have been making themselves scarce.)

Then a couple of us ended the day with a treat: a nearby homeowner had a western screech owl living in his owl box, and invited CBC bird counters to come by at 4:45 when he said it reliably poked its head out. I got there at 4:30, and only had to wait five minutes before the little owl appeared at the opening. This time I had my "real" camera, but it's still not a great photo given the low light and my not wanting to upset the owl by getting too close.

I definitely need to build an owl box. I'll put it on the list with the bat boxes I meant to build for this summer, but never got around to.

Anyway, no super rarities, but this year's CBC was a fun day, especially with the very pleasant weather.