My first Christmas Bird Count

Have you ever participated in a CBC (Christmas Bird Count)? It will be going on from December 14 through January 5th, 2012.  This is when birders go out in the fields, armed with their binoculars, and count birds all day in specific areas.  Yes, all day.  It's done in small groups. 

If you don't know about this, find out at the Audubon Christmas Bird Count site.  It's fascinating.

Well, I did my first one last weekend.  A blast! My group, led by Dr. Ivey, started at 5:30 a.m.  Before dawn, we spotted five (5!) Barred Owls.  One flew right over us.  Two sat side by side on a tree a few feet from us, hooting. 

We were three to start that early.  The rest of the group joined us later.  And the chase went on all day with a lunch break.  We wanted to see as many bird species as possible. 

We were 9 people all together in our team, divided in three small groups of 3 birders each.  We've seen a total of 100 bird species and thousands and thousands of birds, especially ducks.  For my part, I've identified 83 bird species that day, a record for me. I've added four lifers.  A "lifer" is a new bird that a birder has seen for the first time, adding it to his life list of birds identified. 

If you want to see the list of birds we've seen that day, you can check it out on our site at Ocmulgee Audubon CBC in Macon.  All is all, our Audubon local chapter has identified 110 bird species that day and we set several records. 

Everyone has a hobby or a passion, I guess.  Birding is great and educative! Beside seeing birds, we do spend time in nature and run into other wildlife.  It was truly a great day and I'm already looking forward to next CBC.