Today I participated in the Christmas bird count for the first time. Our area was the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge and our assignment was the area in the Sand Dunes State Forest. Four of us carpooled. We drove for a while, hiked for a while, drove, hiked, drove, hiked, drove and hiked. We started off big - a bald eagle who turned out to be our only raptor of the day. There aren't many birds out there this time of year. Here are our totals: Bald eagle-1, Rock Dove (same as any ordinary pigeon you see sitting under a bridge)-12, Red bellied woodpecker - 2, Downy woodpecker - 5, Hairy woodpecker - 2, Pileated woodpecker - 2, Blue jay - 23, American Crow - 54, Black capped chickadee - 25, White breasted nuthatch - 5, Robin - 2, American Tree Sparrow - 13, Dark-eyed Junco - 26, Northern Cardinal (a very Christmas looking bird) - 3, and Goldfinch - 33. We drove through the forests and through housing developments. We looked for bird feeders. Most bird feeders were empty. One feeder was full and we saw about 40 birds in that spot alone. We had a total of 233 birds. I wore my new red snow pants and sorrel boots. My toes were cold but otherwise I was comfortable. I had a great morning - hiking in the piney woods with friendly, funny people who know a lot about nature. I couldn't ask for a better day. Yuletide update - the tree in the garage had a cookie sawed off the bottom and has moved into the living room and sitting in warm water, stretching out it's branches. No lights or decorations on it yet. One step at a time.
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