Bird Count Brings Out Some Christmas Surprises

PALO ALTO, CA -- Some people might say: "Christmas is for the birds." And they would be right.

That's because thousands of people show up to count them every holiday season across the country as the official "bird census" -- hundreds in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties alone.

The National Audubon's Christmas Bird Count is the nation's longest-running citizen science bird project, with over a century's worth of data on the quantities of what types of birds exist in various regions has been collected since the project began in 1900.

In Palo Alto, a group of 100 hearty souls went out to cover their region a week ago in the three-week count that ends Jan. 4. Clusters of people break up into zones 15 miles in diameter. Al Eisner's group scoured an area from the bayside of the Peninsula region through the Santa Cruz Mountains and along Skyline Boulevard. What this group found is some birds don't know their seasons.

"We saw things that don't belong here in the winter," said Eisner, who's participated in the count for three decades. "The birds expanded their range."

For example, the Caspian Tern was spotted at the Dumbarton Bridge. The landmark has proven to be "an interesting location" for the bird count because the birdwatchers have discovered that the decoys placed there are attracting certain aviary breeds.

"They don't normally stay for winter," he said, adding they like to be sun lovers who migrate to Mexico for the winter.

Bald eagles were hanging out at the Stanford University campus.

"We've seen more of them five years in a row (there)," Eisner said.

The same goes for the Bullock's Oriole -- a regular summer bird.

The birder pondered the notion that perhaps recent winters have been warmer and therefore have delayed the exodus.

"But that really could be speculation," he said.

Then, there are the birds that just plain make mistakes and turns out to be a rare find for the Peninsula count. Take the Red-naped Sapsucker, which was also spotted by the group. The Sapsucker drills holes in trees to drain the sap that insects feast on. The bird feeds on the insects.

When asked whether the climate change is affecting the sightings of birds not commonly found in winter, San Jose State University Professor of Biological Sciences Scott Shaffer told Patch more research needs to be done before making that conclusion.

"The observation may be confounded by El Nino conditions that are building," said Shaffer, who studies ornithology.

Birdwatching and counting has grown as a serious hobby over the years. Some engrossed in the hobby have been known to fly into other states to check off birds on a rare list.

The Audubon Society's count sprung up as a counter to a long tradition that involved how many birds hunters could kill. In December 1900, U.S. ornithologist Frank Chapman proposed counting them instead of hunting them as conservation was just starting to assert its position in North American society. On Christmas Day of that year, 27 observers took part in the first count in 25 places across the United States and Canada. The census tallied 18,500 birds belonging to 90 species. The largest number ever recorded in a single count of a isolated area was 250 in 2005 in Palacios, Texas.

To learn more about the Christmas Bird Count and find a map of CBC bird count circles in your area, on the National Audubon society website.

—Image courtesy of Laurie Graham