Since about 1900, Christmas Bird Counts have been made in North America. I have been hearing about them for thirty years. This week, I finally got in on one. I joined Kerry Lee and Bruce, from the Chignecto Naturalists Club, to survey the town of Amherst for every bird we could find. It was a beautiful morning to start the day.
KL and B birded from 9 until 3:30, at least; I got to join them for quite a few hours, but not the whole day. We saw about twenty five species.
red breasted merganser
ring necked pheasant
bald eagle
sharp shinned hawk
ring billed gull
herring gull
Iceland gull
gull sp.
rock pigeon
mourning dove
downy woodpecker
hairy woodpecker
blue jay
American crow
common raven
black capped chickadee
red breasted nuthatch
white breasted nuthatch
European starling
cedar waxwing
American tree sparrow
song sparrow
sparrow sp.
dark eyed junco
northern cardinal
American goldfinch
evening grosbeak
It was nice to drive all around the town, and stop just to look and look and look, in a few places. We were happy about our day.
It was after B and I left, when KL saw northern cardinals in her yard. This is a bird I was used to seeing frequently in Digby County; it is much less common up here in Cumberland. Thanks for the photo, Kerry Lee.
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