BURNS CBC DEC 14, 2021 [122]
Historic count start date: 1998;
53 species were seen
Total number of counts: 24
Counts missed: 0
Temperature range
31° at 1am and noon - 24° at 7am
Birding time winds: 2-10 mph
Owling time winds: 2-6 mph
16 participants and 16 feeder watchers counted 61 species which is about
average and 10 less than last year. Thanks to all who helped with the count!
A limited amount of people attended a dinner party data review award ceremony
that we squeezed in just before omicron Covid variant hit. The dinner was
cancelled last year due to Covid-19.
Temperatures during the count day varied wildly from 31 at midnight to 24 at
7am, (the start of the count) and then a high again of 31 at noon.
Temperatures fell dramatically in the evening to 6° by midnight, the coldest
day of the winter this year. On Dec 13th, the day before the count, it reached
a high of 46 but with strong gusty winds most of the day.
1-2 inches of snow covered the ground from a few days before the count.
Winds were mild all day with partially sunny skies. Overall a nice day for a
winter bird count.
Sewage ponds and other bodies of water were open but froze earlier in December
which forced many water birds to use wings or skates.
Once again, it was a good strategy to conduct the count on the first day of the
count period since frigid temperatures froze all open water and most moving
water the night of the count, as usual.
Bird observations
A week before the count it was discovered that an Anna’s hummingbird was
visiting two different hummingbird feeders that just happened to be left out
late in the season.
We then kept daily observations of the hummingbird, and even set up a game
camera to monitor its activities in case it stayed for the count; and it did !
A new species for the count and for all of Harney county in December.
But would it survive 6° the night of the count? It did!
And it is still here on Christmas Day. The next challenge will be 0° in a few
days. There are pros and cons of feeding hummingbirds late in the year. The
fear now is if the daily warm sugar water is forgotten it may freeze and the
bird may die. Fortunately, the hummer has a reliable warm source of sugar water
between 2 different feeders.
At this point the bird may have to stay the winter just to survive. It’s too
cold to migrate without reliable food sources. There is a chance she is
roosting in an outdoor heated chicken coop next door to the feeders.
The second new species was less dramatic but still a new species.
12 snow geese were recorded for the first time on the “count day”.
California quail counts remained in the low end of a 10 year downward trend at
3674 as the population remained well below high numbers (6000) in the 2000s and
well off the record 10,011 in 2004 which is a world record. That’s one reason I
started the count in 1998 knowing we could break the record from Orange County,
CA of 6800 in 1963. Now they count about 125! We learned to count the quail in
Burns and Hines street by street between 3 and 4:30 pm, as they gather in
flocks to feed and roost in conifers.
Low numbers may be the result of less people feeding birds due to the high cost
of bird seed, a high number of winter raptors and more feral cats. Also one of
their favorite roost trees, large old growth spruce trees, are cut down each
year as a sacrifice for the town Christmas tree. Seems like an odd way to
maintain the majestic trees in Burns and Hines.
Some of the other highlights were.
15 wild turkeys (a record )
6 Greater sage-grouse (probably more but we stop after the first birds are
observed)
Two observations of black-capped chickadees
Several sightings of sharp-shinned hawks, northern goshawks and ferruginous
hawks. Cooper hawks were abundant as usual thanks to all those quail.
A canyon wren that developed a strange behavior over the years of entering a
shop through a crack in the wood wall adjacent to the stove pipe to feed on
dormant spiders. Turns out it also roosts in the shop! Owling for wrens!
A record 3 Barrow’s Goldeneyes, a pair with a juvenile, were observed on Hwy 78
fishing ponds.
There were also a high number of birds with just one individual observed
including the following:
Cackling goose
Gadwall
American wigeon
Northern shoveler
Ruddy duck
Virginia rail
Merlin
Northern shrike
Rock wren
Canyon wren
Downy woodpecker
Marsh wren
Mountain Chickadee
Red-winged blackbird
Evening grosbeak
A big miss were mountain bluebirds.
We also missed two northern pintails observed the day before the count.
Cheery chilly winter birding,
Rick Vetter and
Joan Suther
Sent from my iPhone
Rick Vetter cotingas@xxxxxxxxx
Phone 541-589-2230
“Even the worst handwritten notes are better than the
best memory or technology”
Sergej Postupalsky, eagle researcher
