Christmas Bird Counts

On Saturday I participated in the 106th Christmas Bird Count. The count was started by the Audubon Society to counter the traditional "Side Hunt". The goal was to perform a bird census yearly to monitor population trends. The conservation effort has grown over 100 years and now boasts over 2000 sites and 50, 000 participants.

In Massachusetts there are 35 individual area counts. The area that we did on Saturday was Worcester. In addition to the typical winter birds (chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, robins, blue jays, etc.) we had a great look at a red necked grebe. Other members of our group spotted four bald eagles and a couple of red crossbills. It was a beautiful day and everyone had a good time. I hope to publish the complete species list soon.