Christmas Bird Count a gift to Audubon

Editor’s note: This week we’re reprinting Sylvia’s column from Dec. 14, 1972.

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Next Sunday, Dec. 17, the Evergreen Naturalists will hold their Christmas Bird Count. This annual project is sponsored by the National Audubon Society and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with bird clubs across the country participating.

Each count is held within a circle with a 15-mile diameter. Club members are assigned a section of this circle. Since the Evergreen Naturalists are a comparatively small club, they are anxious for all the help they can get. If anyone would like to participate, they are most welcome to join one of the groups. You need not be an expert; just an extra pair of eyes to help locate the birds will help.

The club is also especially anxious to have everyone within the circle report what they observe at their feeders that day. The count leader this year is Douglas Stotz. Other club members may come knocking at your door to ask if you will keep a feeder report.

The more rugged members of the club will make a dawn-to-dusk count; others will cover smaller areas according to their desires. At the end of the day, all participants meet for a chili supper and a compiling of the day’s totals. It is usually a cold day’s work that ends with a warm social evening of comparing notes, which is fun for all. Last year, the group reported 46 species and 4,600 individuals.

Members are very anxious to increase the count this year. Some birds known to occur in the area, such as the wild turkey, blue grouse and great horned owl, have not been reported on the count day. Hopefully, this year they will be able to add some of these to the list. Last year the group discovered a red crossbill on her nest with four eggs. This was the only nest reported on the Christmas Count in the entire country. The National Audubon Society asks that a $1 contribution be made by each participant to help defray the cost of printing the national report of the count.

The Denver Field Ornithologists will be conducting their count on Saturday, Dec. 16, and their count area includes the Indian Hills, Idledale, Deer Creek, Inter-Canyon and Morrison areas.