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Cover Story
C^hrid
&ird C^ound\
A cold rain pelts Angela
Dim mitt as she stands at the edge of a hardwood forest
in New Milford. Conn., aiming her binoculars at the
tops of towering oak and hickory trees.
"Psh, psh, psh," she whispers. Within seconds,
dozens of birds dart among the bare branches. Dim
mit identifies and counts each bird. ''Here's a rare one,
a hermit thrush. Excellent,” she says. “And those are
juncos ... 15, 16, 17."
For 30 years, Dimmitt has participated in the
Christmas Bird Count, the worlds oldest and larg
est wildlife survey, begun in 1900 by ornithologist
Frank Chapman, who proposed an alternative to the
traditional Christmas "side hunts." Concerned about
declining populations, Chapman suggested
counting birds, rather than killing them.
The first Christmas Day bird count
attracted 27 participants in 13 states
and two Canadian provinces. Today,
57,000 volunteer birders tan out with >
binoculars and field guides from Dec. 14
to Jan. sto identify and count millions of MB
birds across the Western Hemisphere.
Working in pairs and small
groups, participants travel by foot,
car, bicycle, boat, sled and horseback.
exploring woodlands and wetlands, vaY*
lawns and landfills, parks and pas- 'yjpMMH
cures in more than 2,000 designated til.'iHlfr;
counting circles, each measuring 15 jMffl^Pgygj
miles in diameter. aafil
Mm go everywhere you legally :
can and ..ounc birds." says Dim
mitt. 05, while slowly driving her
SUV along twisting roads with her eyes
and ears alert tor hairy woodpeckers, pine tSj
siskins and other birds generally spotted in «
western Connecticut in wintertime. '
Topping a hill. Dimmitt suddenly hies the
brakes. In the valley below, 10 wild turkeys strut
Bird watchers
maintain
a century-old
holiday tradition
Angela Dimmitt
has participated in
the Christmas Bird
Count for 30 years.
Jrfji - >
’.-jt MWMBIM' L 1
Jp^
Blue jays, cardinals and black-capped chickadees are common sightings during the annual wildlife survey.
across an open field. She beams under her soggy
hat as she reaches for her checklist to record
iigfc another bird sighting.
2 C ilizen kieii/i.ils
Across the United States,
Bjt bird watchers identity hundreds
®§? of species during the Christmas
Bird G)unt. Of the 69 million
MB’ birds counted last year, among
KSf the most common sightings were
ms American crows and robins, house
sparrows, black-capped chickadees,
Canada geese and blue jays.
Less typical "finds" were region
| al, such as spectacled eider ducks
f in Alaska, wrentits in coastal Cali
fornia, dovekies in New England
and spot-breasted orioles in Miami,
Fla. Each year, one or two rare species
'JK y vG V jCM VfYylfi ur /' \ a
surface during the count, such as a Craveri’s murrelet,
a small seabird that typically winters along the Pacific
coast of Mexico, thac was spotted during last season's
count in the waters off Crystal Springs, Calif.
The wealth of data gathered by the “citizen scien
tists" and published annually helps researchers recog
nize trends in bird populations and offers clues to the
health of the environment, says Geoffrey Leßaron, of
Williamsburg, Mass., director of the Christmas Bird
Count for the National Audubon Society.
"The passion that people develop for birds is what
makes this program succeed,” Leßaron says. “The count
is an important part of people's holiday tradition.”
3Uh/il, v conn!
During the bird count in Pueblo, Colo., last
December, Mark Yaeger set his sights and hopes on
glimpsing a yellow-bellied sapsucker.
"He's rare for Colorado and he was here last Sat
(Continued on page 14)
Page 12
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hfyIMARTI ATTOUN
/ I Contributing Editor