Kenny Lake Bird Count

***Gray jay on a feeder.*** *Photo by Tenley Nelson*

Tenley Nelson - CRR Staff

The sun had just barely crested the horizon when I met up with Cliff Eames and Ruth McHenry at the Kenny Lake Mercantile (“Merc”) at 10 AM on December 26. -10° F was quite mild compared to the previous week’s low temperatures of -40s and -50s. I joined Cliff and Ruth (a former bird count organizer and compiler) for a portion of their annual Christmas Bird Count routine along the Old Edgerton Highway from Mile 10 back to the Merc.

The Christmas Bird Count, now in its 123rd year, was started as an alternative to the tradition of the Christmas side hunt, the winner being the hunter who shot the largest pile of birds. In light of declining bird populations in large part due to uncontrolled harvesting of bird feathers to decorate women’s hats, counting birds instead of hunting them appealed to conservationists.

“The Christmas Bird Count, now in its 123rd year, was started as an alternative to the tradition of the Christmas side hunt, the winner being the hunter who shot the largest pile of birds.”

The Audubon Society began in 1896 as the Massachusetts Audubon Society. In 1900, the idea of the Christmas Bird Count was proposed in the magazine “Bird Lore” by Frank Chapman. In 1905, the organization expanded to become the National Audubon Society. Their mission is a simple one: to “protect birds and the places they need.”

According to the National Audubon Society website, the Christmas Bird Count collects data that “when combined with other surveys such as the Breeding Bird Survey, provides a picture of how the continent’s bird populations have changed in time and space over the past hundred years. The long-term perspective is vital for conservationists. It informs strategies to protect birds and their habitat, and helps identify environmental issues with implications for people as well.”

It was challenging to listen for birds with the crisp crunching of three pairs of winter boots on the snowy road, but we did hear and see chickadees, a magpie, and a raven. Care is taken when logging to not over-count birds. It is more like counting from a snapshot. If you see four chickadees in the air at once, you log four, even though it might seem like there are more flying around.

When a flock of birds is swooping back and forth across the road and in and out of trees, it is tough to know whether you have already counted them or not. Some field counters can tell species by bird song, but we just wrote down “chickadee” when we heard a chickadee singing but could not see it to determine if it was a black-capped or boreal by sight.

***Black-capped chickadee on suet feeder.*** *Photo by Tenley Nelson*

The annual Kenny Lake Christmas Bird Count started January 1, 1981, for the 81st national count. Counters that year included Everett Benjamin, Roy Brittain, Wendy Fisher, Bruce Gordon, Patricia Hunt, Larry Kajean, Curtiss Lain, Sharon Lain, Christopher Morely, Bev and Rick Oatman, Helen and Louis Patterson, and Francis Kibble, the compiler.

Birds spotted 1/1/1981 included one goshawk, 23 great horned owls, three great gray owls, one downy woodpecker, one three-toed woodpecker, 72 gray jays, 27 black-billed magpies, 42 ravens, 23 black-capped chickadees, 47 boreal chickadees, 20 pine grosbeaks, 20 common redpolls, 39 white-winged crossbills, and 40 snow buntings. Data logged includes elevation, habitat coverage, temperature, snow level, and how many field and feeder counters there were in addition to the birds spotted. The count circle is from the point 61°44’N 144°56’W, NW to Mile 5 on Old Edgerton, W on New Edgerton to Pippen Lake, SE on Edgerton to mile 14.

The count has happened every year since. Cliff and Ruth shared that bird counts have been dwindling year after year, as have the number of volunteers participating in the count. The 123rd count data are still being compiled but will be available in the near future
on https://netapp.audubon.org/CBCObservation/Historical/ResultsByCount.aspx

All previous years for Kenny Lake data to 1981 can also be viewed from this link.

“It was challenging to listen for birds with the crisp crunching of three pairs of winter boots on the snowy road, but we did hear and see chickadees, a magpie, and a raven. ”

After experiencing a field count, I was welcomed into the Patinka home to observe a feeder count. There were several suet feeders hanging in trees that attracted black- capped chickadees and gray jays.

I was very curious to learn how to accurately count at a feeder but discovered that we were back to the snap-shot concept. The feeder counter logs the most of any one species sighted at any one time throughout the day. For example, if five black-capped chickadees are on the feeder and one grosbeak, you write down 5 BK chickadees, 1 grosbeak.

Later if you have a flock of 12 grosbeaks descend at once, you count 12, not 13, as you do not know if there is a repeat from the earlier bird. The numbers logged are the most seen of any one species at the same time during the count day. This is much simpler in practice than my original thought that bird counters not only needed to know bird species but be able to tell individual birds apart to accurately count them!

Since 2017, the Wrangell Institute for Science and Environment has sponsored the Kenny Lake Christmas Count. If you are interested in participating in the collection of data that allows our community to see how bird populations change over time, or just a fun winter day out looking for birds, contact Robin Mayo at robin@wise-edu.org or Jolene Nashlund at jolene@wise-edu.org to be added to the KL Christmas Bird Count email list.

Thank you to the Patinkas and Ruth & Cliff for allowing me to tag along and participate in counting birds!