Christmas Bird Count 2008- 3 January 2009

I don't know if this photo captures how my eyeball feels right now, but if it looks raw, fiery, and a little bit tired, then it almost captures the moment. Today was the 2008 installment of the annual Christmas Bird Count at Kokopelli Wildlife Area. No, that's not a typo. This year the 2008 count actually took place in 2009. Don't ask.

Today, a team of biologists and volunteers scoured the several thousand acres of Kokopelli Wildlife Area trying to count and identify every single bird on or above the property. The tradition of the Christmas Bird Count began in 1900 as a sort of protest to annual Christmas "side hunts" when North Americans everywhere celebrated the birth of the baby Jesus by killing as many birds as they could in one day. From its modest beginnings of about 27 individuals in 25 locations, the bird count now draws more than 50,000 participants in more than 1500 locations.

I realize that the knowledge of this type of volunteer event probably really freaks out around 85% of the population, but it's actually a lot of fun. And, to be perfectly honest, no one invited me on a Christmas side hunt this year. So I left my shotgun at home and, armed with only binoculars and a camera, made the drive in to Kokopelli to do some birdwatching.

We met at the headquarters at 0600 and split into teams to more efficiently cover the farthest reaches of KWA. Ten hours and several liters of Mountain Dew later, we all converged once again on the headquarters to tally up the numbers. For the day, we notched just shy of 120 species and somewhere around 200,000 individuals.

I took a few photos.

Here's one of a relatively common bird at KWA in an uncommon pose. Makes my neck sore.

killdeer

This little one has a feather out of place.

yellow-rumped warbler

Good birders usually hear and identify a bird before they ever see it. Once a bird is identified by it's call, a little bit of patience is often rewarded with an actual sighting. It takes a lot of practice to become really good at this, but after you learn even a few calls, a whole new world opens up around you. To me, the eyes on these birds look fake.

spotted towhee

Sometimes the smallest birds seem to be trying to compensate by wearing something shiny. My daughter would love this outfit.

Anna's hummingbird

And this last bird is my wife's favorite. A tiny falcon that often hovers in mid-air while looking for a meal.

American kestrel

I have one more photo to share, but it's not a bird. This is just a lowly fungus, but it reminds me of a whale.

magic???

See, even lazy government biologists even have to work on weekends sometimes. And sometimes they don't even get paid for it. I hope this inspires some of you to go find your own Christmas Bird Count to participate in next year. For the rest of you, you can wake up now.