The weather was cold (47 degrees!) on Saturday morning as I piled into my trusty Subaru and headed out before dawn to do my part for the West Palm Beach Christmas bird count. The count, sponsored by the National Audubon Society, is one of the longest running events in “citizen science,” in which ordinary folks, not just researchers with the appropriate degrees and professional duties, join together to gather data on the numbers and species of birds present at a particular location on a particular day. It started as a counterculture movement 110 years ago, as an alternative to the “side hunt,” in which hunters would compete to see how many species (game and nongame birds alike!) they could bag on Christmas day. The count in Palm Beach county has been going on for over 50 years, and this year it was held on January 2nd. Yes, the Christmas bird count was held in January. Go figure.
My part of the count involves a small area in the southern end of the count circle (each count takes place in a circle of 15 miles diameter, the “count circle”). My territory (see map below), part of the West Palm Beach count circle, runs from Lake Ida park in the southwest corner to Woolbright Road in the north, and from those two roads (Lake Ida road in the south, Woolbright in the North), goes from there to the Intracoastal Waterway. I do not get to count on the barrier islands, so shorebirds are pretty rare on my sheets (and I got blanked on them this year.)
The 2010 edition of the West Palm Beach Christmas Bird Count had us counting birds on one of the coldest days of the year (not saying much, since it was only the second day of the year), of the season (which is only marginally older), and in my memory here (which is saying something, going back as it does almost nine years).
View CBC 2010, Southern portion in a larger map
When you start out as early as I do (and many people start even earlier, going owling in the hours just after midnight!), you might find that the moon is still up:
And, since the full moon was only a few days ago, that meant that the sun couldn’t be very high in the sky. So it wasn’t in a very good position to allow me to capture lovely images of birds, every feather perfectly visible, even if my camera and skills were suited to such an attempt. It also wasn’t in a good position to warm me very much, what with the Arctic air that had interposed itself between me and it. No, what the sun was in good position for was getting into my eyes as I tried to stare eastward across the lake. It would have been much more convenient to bird Lake Ida in the afternoon, since the sun would then be in the right spot, behind me, as I scan the lake to the east. Unfortunately, though, in the afternoon the lake is thronged with visitors, boat traffic, and passersby, all of which tend to reduce the chances of finding shy, retiring birds.
Almost as much as a cold front would.
The light was pretty good, though, for a few dreamy silhouettes like this one of a tricolored heron flying over the lake:
There were also mottled ducks:
There was also a domestic duck escapee:
There was no sign, however, of the dozens and dozens of Muscovy ducks that had frequented the site in the past. My guess is that they were all removed during the massive make-over that happened between last year’s count and this year’s. The park is much improved, with many more native species, a larger area of “natural” shoreline for (it is to be profoundly hoped) some shorebird species to congregate, and a much nicer pedestrian experience. I am very pleased at the improvements in this little park.
After Lake Ida, I went to some other sites; more on those later. The gallery below has pictures from the whole day; I will post more on the other sites later.
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