Thousands head outdoors for annual hemispheric bird count

Posted 7:03PM on Saturday 14th December 2002 ( 22 years ago )

ALBANY - Rain or shine, Alan Ashley will be out at the crack of dawn Dec. 28, with binoculars at the ready and his ears attuned to the hoots of owls, the foreboding calls of mourning doves and the chirps of sparrows. He and thousands of other bird watchers throughout the Western Hemisphere will be participating in the National Audubon Society's 103rd annual Christmas Bird Count, the longest continuously running wildlife survey in the world. More than 55,000 volunteers, including about 1,000 in Georgia, will take part in the count, which started Dec. 14 and continues through Jan. 4 in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, South and Central America and a few Pacific islands. ``This is the birding even of the year,'' said Terry Johnson, a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources who has taken part in 21 counts. ``This is the World Series.'' Birds are indicators of the health of the environment. In the 1960s, the decline of peregrine falcons and bald eagles discovered during the Christmas counts alerted humans to the dangers of pesticides such as DDT. ``By looking at long-term population trends, biologists can get an idea of the success or failure of conservation efforts,'' Johnson said. During the count, the birders note every bird seen within a 24-hour period in a specific geographical area. Each area is a circle 15 miles in diameter, covering about 177 square miles. The volunteers covered 1,936 circles last year nearly 343,000 square miles and counted more than 52 million birds, accounting for nearly every species in North American. Johnson said it provides competition for participants seeing the most and the rarest birds. ``It only gets strenuous when you have bad weather,'' he said. ``We've had situations where people got stuck. We've had binoculars get fogged up and everyone put their binoculars in a stove to dry them out. Most people will continue to count, even if it's in a driving rain. Some will say, 'I've had enough. I'm going home.''' Many, like Ashley, say they welcome the chance to get outdoors and see birds. The Albany birders saw nearly 90 species last year, from a rare barn owl to the more common pileated woodpecker. ``I also enjoy the challenge of trying to identify as many species as I can,'' said Ashley, 60, a manager at Albany's Marine Corps Logistics Base. Ashley said 15 to 20 volunteers take part in the Albany count, which includes a vast wetland area known as the Swamp of Toa west of town. They divide into four or five teams and follow routes on maps. Most of the swamp's snakes and alligators are inactive during the winter, but it is a popular area for deer hunters. ``We have to keep our eyes open for Homo sapiens as well as birds,'' Ashley said. ``That's another one of the challenges, not to get shot. ``We run into a lot of curious people,'' he said. ``We have to spend some of our time answering questions.'' Many participants are experts, but even beginning birders can help with the counts. ``I can't recognize one from another,'' said Don Cook, a retired college math professor. ``But there's always usually one expert to recognize these birds.'' Charles Erwin, a historian and expert on the swamp, said people go out three or four days beforehand to scout for birds and plan the teams' routes. ``Deer have movements that fall into patterns,'' he said. ``Birds, do too. It can be helpful ... to find out where the birds are.'' Beside reporting bare numbers, the teams report starting and ending times, weather and other factors that could affect the birds' behavior. The Audubon Society publishes the results on the Web. Carol Lambert, director of the Clayton County Water Authority's Newman Wetland Center, south of Atlanta, was planning to take part in the bird count on St. Catherine's Island, along the Georgia Coast, on Saturday. Limited transportation to the barrier island south of Savannah makes it one of the few that is by invitation only. Lambert said she believes the bird counts are popular because they give people a connection with nature. ``A lot of people are missing that,'' she said. ``We're shopping more. We're sitting in front of computers more. If they have a yard or balcony where they can watch a bird for a few minutes, they feel that connection.''

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