Not Quite

 

Northern Mockingbird

Eighteen hours of birding, spread over two days and two Christmas Bird Counts. 

What an adventure! For the Schenectady count the weather was ridiculously nice, mixed sun and light clouds, balmy, and pleasant.

Driving around with the windows down and the sunroof open didn't seem weird at all, but then it didn't feel like December.

October maybe, but not December.

We saw throngs of birds, although no real ooh-ahh birds, just a lot of them. A lot is good though. You sure don't get bored!

At the end of the day, we had 39 species, which is not bad at all. Best bird from my point of view was a Barred Owl first thing in the morning, but the many Black-capped Chickadees, Golden-crowned Kinglets and 3 Brown Creepers were pretty interesting as well. And who can resist 3 Swamp Sparrows buzzing up out of the marsh to greet us! I am always astonished to see them in winter, but sometimes we do.

Largest of several flocks of Cedar Waxwings we saw
There were at least 100

Day two, the Johnstown CBC, produced an abrupt turnaround in the weather. Although the temperature lingered in the 40s most of the day, there was a lazy wind...it went right through you, rather than around...and it was shiverishly damp. However, there was open water and there were ducks!

With a nasty storm impending, we again saw a lot of birds. We ended with 32 species, and once again, a tiny bird palooza of a count. It didn't hurt that friend, mentor, and leader for this part of the circle, George Steele, is a master at pishing. Within seconds after he stopped the car and started the show, the little birds came boiling out of the woods to investigate. They screamed and peeped and clucked their outrage at the invasion of noisy alarm calls. It was great fun to watch and listen, and oh, how I wish I could pish like that. I am getting better but...

Cryptic little Brown Creeper

Usually the Black-capped Chickadees were first and we saw amazing numbers of them. It reminded me of the good old days doing the count with my dad, when we saw hundreds every year. Next Tufted Titmice, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Red-breasted Nuthatches, White-breasted Nuthatches, and Brown Creepers arrived. I have never seen as many BRCR, RBNU, or GCKI in one year before, let alone in one day. We ended up with 291 BCCH, 15 GCKI, 29 RBNU and 9 BRCR. 

At some stops other birds showed up too, Blue Jays, shrill and strident in their opinions, and Norther Cardinals cheeping urgently. A couple of times Common Ravens came soaring over to intone Nevermore-ishly from above.

At the end of the day, kind of cold and tired, it felt good to get home. I foolishly had dressed for Saturday's weather and it was insufficient for Sunday, alas. However, as I said to George, when he asked if I was up for another bird day sometime next year, I said, "If I'm not dead, I'm game."

And I am. If I can I will chase birds, pretty much every time, even if it's just in our backyard.

BTW, the promised storm is no joke. A local friend says water flow in the Schoharie has reached the level of the 93 flood. Hopefully the rain stops before it gets any higher!

Don't know if you can see these, but here are links to our trip reports for the two days.

Schenectady CBC

Johnstown CBC

House Sparrow, nasty things remind me of today's weather