Counting The Birds

For the second year now, I was privileged to participate in the Concord Circle of the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. It's an exhilirating experience and I wish I had gotten involved a long time ago.

Teams assigned by our area leader Steve Morse embarked from the Sunlite Cafe on Rte. 117 into the cold clear morning around 7:30am, and the winds initially made our treks over open frozen areas in the Gardner Hill area of Stow a bit challenging. But the sun warmed us as the morning aged, and my partner, Wendy Miller, and I were pleased to identify 25 species in total, including a Sharp-Shinned Hawk.

For three and a half hours, we diligently scoured every inch of our assigned territory, and in addition to the thrill of finding a respectable cache of species, the experience heightens one's senses and clears one's mind. Every ounce of our attention was intently focused on hearing or espying the sought-after avian residents, regardless of whether they might be hiding or just waiting to be discovered in plain view.

It's a wonderful exercise to sharpen one's intuitive senses, too. Sometimes, birds are found simply because a team member has a hunch to look up a particular tree, or over her shoulder, or into a certain hedge of brambles.

I can't think of a better way for an animal communicator--or anyone who wants to feel a closer bond with the creatures of the natural world--to have spent a glorious winter Sunday morning.

It's All About the Birds

For years, I've wanted to participate in Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count, and this year, I actually did.

Just after dawn on Sunday, December 30th, I was privileged to be partnered with Steven Moore, the expert Stow/Maynard/Bolton area coordinator for the Concord CBC circle, and Katherine Reiner, a knowledgeable veteran birder, and we embarked on a 6-hour survey of the town of Maynard, in search of as many species and individual birds as we could find. For me, it was an absolutely wonderful experience, topped by the sighting of an Osprey roosting in the branches of a Weeping Willow over the Assabet River, which is a rare event in these parts, particularly at this time of year.

Since last Sunday, I've been like a kid in a candy shop, single-mindedly adding new feeders, seed varieties, and a heated birdbath to my yard, in an effort to lure more species out of the woods. Thanks to my years of "birdscaping," my home is surrounded by numerous fruit trees and berry bushes, which seem to be sustaining a large flock of wintering robins. I can only hope that they are joined by some Cedar Waxwings!

In an effort to attract more woodpeckers and perhaps some red-breasted nuthatches, I wanted to add some suet, but as a semi-vegetarian, I couldn't justify the purchase of the usual beef fat blends, so I wasn't sure I'd be able to create a tempting buffet for these tree-hugging species.

Imagine my delight, then, when I found three "veggie" varieties of suet, made by Pine Tree Farms, at Wild About Birds in North Grafton! I purchased several packages, as well as the birch log suet feeder pictured above, and am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the hungry guests!