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2005 Christmas Bird Count (17 Dec) - Oklahoma
City West Thanks to all you hearties for a job well done on a pretty nasty day. I especially got a kick out of our new participants. Tony Johnson, for example, joined our party and delighted—like a pro—in kicking fields for LBBBs (little biddy brown birds), one of a CBCs most subtle undertakings. Thanks Tony—you made my day. As to bird populations, our feeder watcher Mitch Oliphant spoke for most of us by writing: "Number of species and individuals unusually low." The suspected reason—drought. Of interest, however, was the report of a couple of parties working in the northeastern—and more wooded—parts of our count circle of “good numbers of small birds.” Most interesting to get such different opinions on bird numbers over points no more than 15 miles apart. Highlights included Blue-winged Teal (20), Red-throated Loon (1), Semipalmated Plover (1), California Gull (2), Thayer’s Gull (1), White-winged Dove (3, with photos—yea, Pat), and Inca Dove (count week). Global warming appears to continue, as numbers of typically more southern species continue to build (Great Egret, 10; Black-crowned Night-Heron, 27—carefully counted from one location at Twin Lakes by Warren Harden; Eastern Phoebe, 3), while at least one species at the southern edge of its range in our count circle now barely makes it here from the north (American Tree Sparrow, 8; plus low numbers on most of our CBCs in recent years). Three "eastern species" had their best years ever, likely related at least partially to more wood (fire prevention, urban shrubbery increase) and water (impoundment) in recent decades: Wood Duck, 70; Red-shouldered Hawk, 10; Carolina Wren, 80. The large number of Carolina Wrens was particularly gratifying, considering that for a decade or so after ice storms in the late 1970s, we reported none of this species. Two notable misses--Loggerhead Shrike and Smith's Longspur—could have been partly related to rather messy counting conditions (and therefore slow going), a day when it took 30 seconds to identify a chickadee rather than the usual 0.5. At least this was my personal perspective, and I will not accept that age and declining senses had anything to do with this, as some of you, my friends, might suggest. All things considered, our hearty bands (16 parties) did extremely well to find a total of 117 species on such a messy day in the middle of a drought. My thanks for everyone’s usual grit and professional style. And many thanks to the Newells, and others who provided food and support, for our always-pleasurable counting party. See you again next year—same time, same place! But I hope before then, too.
For additional information on the 2005 CBC, contact John Shackford johnsshack@aol.com View the Christmas Bird Count statistics for 2004.
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