1001 birds. To me that is an amazing total, but that is how many my baby (all things being relative) brother, his lovely wife, and I counted today during the National Audubon Society's annual Christmas bird count http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/. The weather was foggy, dull and damp and we were sure we wouldn't see a darned thing. However, we had a bit more territory to cover this year, which was really nice. (There is nothing like a little new scenery.) Also the birds seemed to be hanging around near the roads and buildings, so although they were hard to identify, because of the terrible light situation, there were lots of them around.

We had no more than walked out of my mom and dad's house to get in the truck when we saw a mess of birds in a tree across the road. They looked like tiny little crested gold finches, but they were cedar waxwings. The fog made them appear much smaller than they actually were. The same thing happened all day. Crows looked like starlings; starlings looked like sparrows. We spent far more time than normal sitting on various roadsides puzzling over identification of common birds that would normally only require a glance.

We stopped during the early afternoon at the farm home of my favorite aunt and uncle. Matt and my uncle walked the land while Lisa and I drank coffee and tea with my aunt and watched the feeder. They burned more calories, but we saw more birds. Some years, however, those sweetly familiar acres, where we all played as kids, yield everything from blue birds to pileated wood peckers.

It was a great day, as it always is. For me besides enjoying family, the high point was seeing an entire flock of cardinals along one seasonal use road. Another fine sight was several pairs of red breasted nuthatches, the most I have even seen in one place at one time. We used to call them itty-bitty-beeping-robot birds for their jerky movements and distinctive calls.

I asked the lady who runs the count and she said that our family has had the Mayfield south territory since 1989. My dad and mom started with it, and over the years both of my brothers and I have helped. Now Matt and I do most of it, with help from his wife, and sometimes from Alan and Matt and Lisa's daughter, Tawny. This year, however, the kids stayed at Grandma's house to play together.

I hope Clan Montgomery can keep on counting for many years to come. Bird counting is a lot like treasure hunting. You never know what you will find, or when that next "Ooh, Ahh," bird will flick out of the bushes in front of you or call from the swamp beside the road. I love it.