Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4B
^Reporter
December 5, 2012
Monroe County Outdoors
It’s time for the 113th
annual Christmas Bird Count
BY TERRY W. JOHNSON
F br more than a century,
the most important hirel
ing event of the year has
been the Christmas Bird
Count. Among birders it is
as important as opening day of the
firearms deer hunting sea
son is to hunters. This
year marks the 42nd an
niversary of our local
count, which is named the
Piedmont National
Wildlife Refuge/Rum
Creek Wildlife Manage
ment Area Count. The
2012 count will be held
Monday, Dec. 17.
This year marks the
113th year that the
Christmas Bird Count
has been held. This
makes it the world’s longest run
ning wildlife survey.
The 112th count was a tremen
dous success. A record 2,248
counts were held. This was 88
more than were conducted in
2010. A total of 1,739 counts
were staged in the United
States. An additional 420 counts
were held in Canada, 99 in
Latin America and two in the
Caribbean, respectively.
A record was also set for the
number of people taking part in
the event. Some 63,227 folks
took time away from their hectic
holiday schedules to count birds.
These bird enthusiasts spotted
64,989,719 individual birds.
Most of them were seen in the
USA (60,502,185). An
additional 3,943,480
birds were tallied in
Canada, and 544,054
in other countries.
These birds repre
sented 2,298 species.
A total of 666 species
were seen in the
United States. The
most species seen on
a individual count
held in the U.S. was
224. These birds
were tallied on the
Matagorda County-Mad Island,
Texas count.
In comparison, 26 counts were
held in Georgia. A total of 217
species were spotted by 582 par
ticipants.
The most abundant bird
reported on the 112th Count was
the European starling (421,446).
Locally, the title for the bird
most often seen went to the
American robin (857).
Last year 9,114 birds repre
senting 101 species were spotted
and indentified on the Piedmont
NWR/Rum Creek WMA Count.
The total number of species seen
fell just seven shy of the count
record 108 species seen on a sin
gle count.
All counts are held between
Dec. 14 and Jan. 4. The
Piedmont NWR/Rum Creek
WMA count will be held Dec. 17.
The objective of each count is
simple: to tally as many birds
as possible in a single day with
in a count circle measuring 15
miles in diameter. Our local
count spans the entire Rum
Creek WMA and Piedmont NWR
as well as most of eastern
Monroe County.
While there is no question that
the Christmas Bird Count is lots
of fun, the data collected is prov
ing invaluable to wildlife biolo
gists. Over the years Christmas
Bird Counts have played a key
role in documenting range
expansions of many birds such
as Eurasian-collared doves and
house finches. They have also
been used to monitor fluctua
tions. For example, the fact that
only 10 quail were seen in the
entire state during the 2011
count period highlights the con
tinued downward spiral of this
fine game bird throughout many
areas in the state. On the other
side of the coin, the 111 bald
eagles spot
ted on
counts held
in Georgia
demon
strate the
success of
efforts to
restore bald
eagle popu
lations in
the Peach
State. Data
is also used
to deter
mine the
impact of
weather on
bird migration as well as the
status of bird populations both
locally and continent-wide. The
count has provided insight into
the impact of habitat changes on
wintering birds.
If you would like to join us on
the count, please let me know of
your plans by Dec. 12. We will
be meeting at the Nongame
Office at 8 a.m. on the day of the
count. At that time we will be
separating into teams and will
head to the field. If you live in
the count circle and want to
count the birds visiting your
yard, you can become a Feeder
Watcher to do
that, too.
I hope that you
will take part in
this important
survey. You don't
have to be an
expert to join the
count team. There
will be plenty of
folks that will help
you hone your bird
identification
skills. All you will
need is a pair of
binoculars and a
desire to do some
thing positive for
the creatures that bring you so
much enjoyment throughout the
year.
Terry Johnson has written
Monroe County Outdoors for
The Reporter for years. Email
your outdoor question or com
ment for him to
tjwoodduck@aol.com
Birders will be scoping the waters
of Lake Juliette hoping to spot the
striking black and white bufflehead,
one of North America’s smallest
ducks.
Dumas
press corps. Saban said,
"When I saw that No. 9
(Ogletree) running down
the field with a blocked
field goal, I said, 'yeah
that's a problem.'"
The Dawgs were up by 11
points with less than a
quarter-and-a-half remain
ing, and it seemed in that
moment that Miami was
as close as Marietta.
There is another famous
NFL game other than "The
Fumble" that ended inside
the 5-yard-line. The St.
Louis Rams and Tennessee
Titans met up in the 2000
Super Bowl in a familiar
location: the Georgia
Dome. In that strange con
test, the Titans trailed 23-
16 with just six seconds to
go. From the Rams' 10-
yard-line, Titans quarter
back Steve McNair threw
a slant pass to receiver
Kevin Dyson at about the
five-yard-line. Dyson
sprinted toward the end
zone, but his feet were
caught from behind by
Rams' linebacker Mike
Jones, stopping Dyson one
yard short of the goal line.
I watched that game a few
summers ago on the NFL
Network when it was
replayed in the aftermath
of McNair's tragic death in
2009. I hadn't given it any
thought since.
The last five minutes of
Saturday's SEC
Championship were
breathtaking. Bama's
defense, led by gargantuan
nose tackle Jesse Williams,
stopped Georgia running
back Todd Gurley on 3rd-
and-1. Bama quarterback
A.J. McCarron made up for
an uneven performance
with one of the sweetest
throws one will ever see
for a go-ahead 45-yard
touchdown to Amari
Cooper. Then, trailing by
four and needing a stop to
get the ball back one more
time, UGA's defense rose
to the challenge and forced
an Alabama punt.
Everybody knows by now
what happened on the
final Georgia drive. An
apparent Bama intercep
tion was overturned, and
quarterback Aaron Murray
led the Dawgs down to the
eight-yard-line. Then, as
luck (or skill) would have
it, Bama linebacker C.J.
Mosley deflected Murray's
pass toward the end zone
directly to UGA receiver
Chris Conley. Conley
instinctively snagged the
pass and was immediately
tackled on the four-yard
line, ending the game
because the Dawgs were
out of timeouts. As Bama
players celebrated with
each other and their fami
lies, Georgia players filed
into the locker room. Many
Georgia fans sat solemnly
in disbelief. Others hurried
out of the stadium before
they had to deal with
taunts from fans in
Houndstooth hats.
There were several
phrases that college
friends texted to me in the
aftermath of Saturday's
game: "gut-wrenching",
"heartbreaking", "unfath
omable", "tough-to-swal-
low" were just a few of the
printable ones. No one said
they felt like they had
been punched in the stom
ach. But they might as
well have. Down in the
tunnel outside the UGA
locker room, Georgia play
ers certainly looked like
they had endured a "stom
ach punch." Ogletree, the
same man who awoke the
ghost of Lindsay Scott
barely an hour earlier, sat
bleary-eyed in front of a
group of reporters. One
asked him if he still
thought Georgia was a bet
ter team than Bama. His
response was honest and
telling. "I mean obviously
they won," Ogletree said
slowly. "I still think we're a
good team just like they
are. We've just got to move
forward."
There are many Georgia
fans who believe that
Saturday's loss was a
moral victory because of
how hard the Bulldogs
competed and how close
they came.
I'm not one of those.
Ask Tennessee Titans or
Cleveland Browns' fans
how many Super Bowls
they've won since Byner
fumbled or Dyson was
tackled. Titans' owner Bud
Adams turns 90 in
January. Adams has owned
the Titans franchise since
1960 when it was the
AFL's Houston Oilers.
While Adams won AFL
titles in his first two years
as owner, he has still never
won a Super Bowl. There
was that one night in
Atlanta when he was just
a yard away.
Georgia might win a
championship in the next
several years, and Dec. 1,
2012 will be just a footnote
in program history. But it's
not likely. I got one more
text Saturday night from a
friend and lifelong Bulldog
Alpharetta star has Forsyth ties
Daniel Clements, second from left, is a star junior receiver at Alpharet
ta High School. Clements’ grandmother Curley Clements (second
from right) and his father Curtis Clements (right) are Forsyth natives.
This story first appeared
on
neighbornewspapers.com
on Nov. 7 when the
Atlanta-based site named
Alpharetta receiver Daniel
Clements its Male Player
of the Week. Clements'
father Curtis Clements
attended Mary Persons
High School. Alpharetta’s
season ended on Nov. 16
when it lost 41-39 to Mill
Creek in the first round of
the AAAAAA state play
offs.
BY CHASE WALLACE
When Alpharetta
entered the season with a
pair of senior receivers
already committed to
Division-I schools, junior
Daniel Clements may have
been an after thought to
opposing defenses.
With his play this sea
son, the 5-foot-11 receiver
is far from that now.
Through nine games
Clements has 48 recep
tions, a team-leading 1,068
yards and has hauled in
10 touchdown passes.
“[Daniel] has been so
important to our offense
this year because with our
talent on the outside we
knew teams would try to
bracket or double cover
those guys,” said
Alpharetta head coach
Jason Dukes, referring to
senior receivers Carlos
Burse and Blake
Rowlinson — committed to
Vanderbilt and Troy
respectively.
“So we needed a guy in
the slot that could make
plays down the seam and
down the field to keep
them honest, Daniel has
been that guy and more,”
Dukes said.
Clements' play is a big
reason Alpharetta is riding
a five-game winning
streak and currently sits
in a three-way tie for
first place in
6AAAAAA. Through
those five wins
Clements has been
the Raiders leading
receiver in each game
— including a seven
catch, 178 yard, two-
touchdown perform
ance last week
against Centennial.
“He’s just a player,”
said Dukes of what
looks to be his next
college bound receiver.
“He has great hands,
great body control and
runs great routes. He
finds places in zones
well and then once he gets
[the ball] he can get verti
cal quick and picks up a
lot of yards.”
Clements is the son of
Mr. and Mrs. Curtis T.
Clements and the grand
son of Curley and the late
Wadey Clements Sr., of
Forsyth, and Jeanette
Harbison and the late
Robert Harbison.
continued from the front
supporter. It read simply,
"Just didn't have enough. .
. no moral victories. . . did
n't have enough."
Miami might as well be
in Madagascar.
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