Census Time Again

On December 18th and 19th, census workers will be out in force on the streets and roads of southwest New Hampshire, counting heads as part of a national effort to better understand population dynamics in the US. Sound familiar? After a summer of fussing about being counted, at least now we know what its like for the birds every winter. Since 1900, they have suffered the indignity of being counted every Christmas as part of Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC), the nation’s longest-running citizen science project.  It has helped scientists to document trends in bird populations for more than a century.

On Saturday December the 18th, the Peterborough count will see teams covering a circle of 15 miles diameter, including parts of Sharon, Temple, Greenfield, Hancock, Peterborough, Dublin, and Jaffrey. I usually join the Dublin team, although if the weather cooperates, I might squeeze in one last hawkwatch for the year and do my count from the summit of Pack Monadnock instead. There are still a few lollygagging hawks and eagles to the north of us.

I love the annual tradition of the Christmas Bird Count.  It’s my equivalent of waiting up for Santa, and to that end I do a little bit of reconnaissance every year.  Instead of scouting for toys, I search lakes and ponds, fields and forests, for any remaining prize birds.  If they can be found again on count day, I will take that as confirmation that I have lived well for the year.

I checked a few local lakes on Tuesday December 7^th and found most to be ice-free, however temperatures in the teens the following night sucked any remaining heat out of the water.  By Thursday, most were frozen, the landscape battened down for the winter, the ducks departed.  A greater scaup and eight buffleheads on Childs Bog in Harrisville on December 7^th took winter’s call and moved south that night.  I am hopeful that the two wood ducks seen the same day on Skatutakee Pond will remain.  My wish list to Santa is that if they remain for count day, they move east a few meters.  On December 7^th they were a hair’s-breadth outside the circle.

Dublin Lake often has some open water remaining into late December due to its relatively large size, and this will likely be where we find any remaining waterfowl.  The Keene circle includes Spofford Lake, which also remains at least partially ice-free for the count most years.  I am hopeful that the lesser scaup, long-tailed duck, and red-necked grebe that were there on Wednesday December 6^th will remain until count day.  Phil Brown found a drake redhead on Thursday December 7^th, a state rarity, and if it remains, a first count record for the species.  This is a notable feat, as the Keene CBC, held first on December 25th 1900, is one of the seven oldest in the country.

Contact Dave Rowell at 924-8790 to participate in the Peterborough CBC on December 18^th, and Phil Brown at 908-705-7954 to participate in the Keene CBC the following day. And be nice to the census-takers – this time they aren’t counting you.