One bird, two birds...

By Emily Crawley

“You probably know more than you think you do,” says Wayne Neily, talking about bird watching in general.

The average person would not be able to tell a Black-legged Kittiwake from a kilometreaway but, according to Neily, organizer of a local annual bird count; the average person knows more about birds than they think.

December 22, some of the Valley’s best bird watchers and identifiers braved the elements to participate in a continent-wide program, with the aim of gathering each year to count birds, coming up with an estimate of how many birds are in an area.

Over 100 participants of varying ages split into groups and spent the entire day observing different species. To help bring the birds out into the open to be counted, many observers use a “twitcher,” which makes a funny noise that lures birds into the open. Fortunately for them, these observers’ intentions were harmless.

The Northern Shrike, the Rough-legged Hawk and the Snow Bunting were some rare northern species spotted during this year’s count. Some other pleasant surprises were the Harlequin Duck, the aforementioned Black-legged Kittiwake, the Razorbill, the Belted Kingfisher, the Pine Warbler and the Hoary Redpoll.

At the end of the day, group leaders met and shared chowder and other culinary delights at a “compilation social.” The leaders documented over 63 species, and bird feeder reports are still to come in.

This area’s branch of the annual bird count (Middleton to Aylesford, and Margaretsville to past Tremont) was started by Neily over 40 years ago. He has served as compiler and organizer for many of those years, and continues to take on the huge task of getting final tallies from the different groups and feeder observers.

Some of this year’s preliminary tallies include 31 wring-necked pheasants, 29 red-tailed hawks and a surprising 10 bald eagles.

“The weather co-operated, and everyone seems to have enjoyed the day,” says Neily.