Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
January 11, 2007 issue
Story by Lois Carol Wheatley
It’s a snipe hunt on a grand scale—except these guys insist there really is such a thing as a snipe and even some remote possibility of actually seeing one.
The National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count is held every year between December 14 and January 5 because, for one thing, the leaves are off the trees at that time and it’s easier to see the birds.
For another thing, in early winter the birds have pretty much finished migrating and a head count at this time of year represents the resident population as opposed to the transients.
The weather was spectacular for this year’s CBC, nice for the census takers but not a fair comparison to prior years of wind and snow. Dozens of other variables tend to skew the counts and create what Rob Biller calls “the fudge factor.”
Biller has headed up the Mountain City-Shady Valley count for the last four years and participated in several other counts throughout adjacent areas. “When this count was started, we had maybe four or five of us and it’s a big area,” he said. “And then as the count progressed, we got more people and more parties going out, and in the last few years that I’ve been compiler, I’ve noticed high counts that have increased. I attribute that to more people being involved in the count, more people knowing about it and more people coming out.”
Add to that fudge factor the problem posed by a flock of 50 starlings winging high above a party of bird counters. Chances are not too bad that same flock will fly over another party a few miles down the road, counting in the same area on the same day, and another 50 starlings will be recorded.
Will the National Audubon Society accept and chronicle the fact that 100 starlings were in the sky on this day? You bet. But it’s a minor issue in contrast with the big picture.
“Generally some of the higher profile birds you wouldn’t count twice,” Biller said. “So they know there’s some small margin of error but you do the best you can and you don’t dwell on a lot of common birds. You try to figure it out.”
Around the turn of the century, bird hunting was a holiday tradition. Actually it was a competitive sport with team leaders choosing up sides and the winner being the team with the biggest pile of feathers at the end of the day.
On Christmas Day in 1900, ornithologist Frank Chapman led the first CBC under the auspices of the fledgling National Audubon Society. Chapman coordinated 25 counts with 27 volunteers who tabulated a total of 90 bird species from Toronto, Ontario to Pacific Grove, California.
Since then the data compiled from the annual counts has been considered vital to the conservation movement under the theory that the local bird population is the proverbial canary in the coalmine. According to the Audubon website, “Local trends in bird populations can indicate habitat fragmentation or signal an immediate environmental threat such as groundwater contamination or poisoning from improper use of pesticides.”
Biller named another important component to this exercise: It’s a great opportunity to get out with some very knowledgeable people and visit specific areas staked out by certain species. Woodpeckers, for example, own the wooded territory surrounding the Schoolyard Bog in Shady Valley.
“If you just want to be a feeder watcher, you can just sign up to do that,” Biller said. “Let the compiler know how long you sat at the feeder.” For the birding excursions, volunteers sign up for two hours, half a day, a whole day, or like Biller and some of his diehard colleagues, a string of days all in a row that start before dawn and end after sundown.
At any level he guarantees there is always something to be learned.
“The knowledge level is not really a big deal. The bigger deal is having people interested in doing it and having the extra sets of eyes. When I first started these I didn’t know a whole lot but you learn on these counts. It’s the best opportunity to get a good look.”