110th Christmas Bird Count

PHOTO BY E. VERNON LAUX Long-tail ducks on their daily commute over the western tip of Nantucket. Ice, local berries, an unusually warm fall along with last weekend's so-called blizzard are all ingredients that are likely to add distinctive flavors to the 2009 Christmas Bird Count happening on Jan. 1., 2010.

Island bird expert Edie Ray, one of two bird count compilers on Nantucket, is hoping to find bird species hanging around the island that under normal conditions would have already left for warmer climes.

"I think that because there is an abundance of berries and we had such a long, warm fall that there are probably things that managed to hold on, the not-so hardy birds," said Ray. "But it just depends on the weather between now (Dec. 18) and the count. Our count is also heavily dependent on the amount of ice. If the ponds are frozen, freshwater ducks are going to be hard to come by."

Fellow birder and compiler, Ken Blackshaw, is thinking the paucity of birds is not going to be limited to freshwater fowl.

"What I'm noticing is that there are fewer birds around my birdfeeders," said Blackshaw. "You would think with the cold weather that they aren't around. Initially, I was thinking they were stressed and with the warm weather they just weren't coming in."

Optimistically, added Ray, there have already been some fascinating birds spotted around the island leading up to this year's count. Last year, it was a gang of snowy owls spread out over the island. This year, the visitors are from thousands of miles away from Nantucket.

"We've had some interesting birds," she said. "We've had a couple of tundra swans, which are quite unusual for Nantucket. We've had Eurasian widgeons and we've had a cattle egret hanging around, so you just never know what's going to turn up."

The 110th Christmas Bird Count, a weeklong — Dec. 29 to Jan. 4 — annual early winter bird census in which thousands of citizen scientists, birders and other volunteers in every state of the U.S., Canada and 19 countries in the Western Hemisphere count species of birds and numbers of each in 24-hour periods is coming to Nantucket on New Year's Day. Island birders like Ray, Blackshaw, Edith Andrews and E. Vernon Laux, a recent addition the island's birding community along with other birding fanatics will lead eight groups of volunteers around the island in search of birds on count day, which lasts from sun up to sundown. Ray stresses that anyone with an interest in birds can help with the count on foot, by driving birders around the island, offering their bathrooms to counters in the field and or counting the birds at their feeders.

"I think a lot of people are intimidated and think 'oh my God, I don't know all the birds in North America and I don't know how to help,' but it's a fabulous learning experience," said Ray. "It's an opportunity to go places on the island you probably have never gone to even if you have lived here [all your life]."

The Christmas Bird Count was started in the U.S. on Christmas Day in 1900 by ornithologist Frank M. Chapman of the then fledgling Audubon Society. The data collected is used by the National Audubon Society and ornithologists around the country to track bird populations, migrations and a host of other bird behaviors and issues, and helps immensely with conservation and education efforts around the world.

On the night before the count, Dec. 31, anyone interested in participating in the count the next day should meet with the count group leaders at the classroom building at UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station at 180 Polpis Road for a briefing and group assignments. At the end of count day, counters return to the field station to tally up and report what they saw around the island.

If you want to count with a group or at home, or want to help out, call Edie Ray at 508- 228-1693 or Ken Blackshaw at 508-228-0709. Call either ahead of time if you plan to count the birds at your feeder to obtain species count forms. I