Buzzards Bay Christmas Bird Count

For the past few years, I have been involved with the Buzzards Bay Christmas Bird Count. This year, the 37th Buzzards Bay Christmas Count was scheduled for 12/20, but was postponed to Monday12/29 due to our little snow storm. The Christmas Counts began on Christmas Day in 1900 as the conservation movement was in it's early stages.

I met the group (Tom, Mark, and Tim) at the Jewish Congregational parking lot at four o'clock in the morning. While we were chatting and saying our hellos, we heard American robins singing. This was a little odd this early in the morning at this time of the year, but I assume it was due, in part to the bright lights from the parking lot.

We have left our vehicles here over the years and load up into one car. This year we headed off in Mark's little Honda. We start by listening for owls at some spots we know are usually productive. Mark does some amazing owl imitations and we rely on him to pull them in. We did manage to get a couple owls; great-horned and eastern screech, before heading off to Frances Crane Wildlife Management Area to try for short-eared owls before sunrise. Mark was able to see one, but I missed it. We broke briefly for coffee and then returned to walk the fields and turn up some more species. It was chilly and a bit damp, but not as bad as some years. This area was new coverage for us, though I know it very well. It was good to be counting so close to home. In the past we've gone directly to West Falmouth after sunrise.


We had some good birds here. One of the nice things for me was seeing 20 eastern bluebirds in one flock along with a couple pine warblers that were hanging with the flock. Crane is notorious for bluebirds, but I have not seen this many together before. Just before we were about to leave the area, I received a call on my cell phone from the Falmouth Police regarding my truck and Tom's car parked at the Jewish Congregation. Apparently someone was bothered by the vehicles being there, so they called the police. I had good conversation with the dispatcher, knowing her on a professional level and after she figured out who I was. We headed out and moved the cars though the congregation said it was okay to leave them after speaking with the dispatcher a second time and hearing of our efforts. We won't be using their lot again as a matter of course.


Another new area for us to cover was the Falmouth Sewage Treatment Facility property. Strange? Perhaps. There are some nice views of the area from here as it sits high enough up in elevation to see Buzzards Bay. We checked in with one of the town employees to alert him of our intentions to bird here. We found a flock of buffleheads, a type of diving duck, in the pools of partially treated waste water (remember that the next time someone offers you a wild duck for supper!). While checking this, Mark found a Cooper's hawk partially submerged IN the water. We were concerned initially that this bird may be in trouble, but it was able to lift itself out of the water enough to take flight and seemed okay. We assumed it had been attempting to make one of the buffleheads it's breakfast and ended up in the water.

After the sewer plant, we headed to a few local ponds to check for ducks and then off to West Falmouth. We have covered this area for several years. We concentrate our effort around abandoned railroad tracks. There had been some fantastic thickets here. Great winter cover for birds that may not have gone too far south for the winter, or were still waiting to head that way. The railroad bed had been removed and a bike path is being constructed along the route. Good for walkers/runners/bikers, but not exactly great for our birding spots. I imagine the thickets will grow in nicely over time, but the traffic will be greatly increased. Perhaps if we hit them early enough, it won't be an issue.


Later in the day, we were joined by the local press. I want nothing to do with them. Don't get me wrong, I have no beef with the press and what they do for us, but I would rather not be in the paper. Two years ago we were on the front page in full color. I have avoided that since, but she did print my name in the paper this year. So, here is a photo of the reporter and her photographer walking with Mark and Tim.

We ended the day back at Crane Wildlife looking for short-eared owls, which we did see and had pretty good views of at sunset in fading late. We ended up just shy of 50 species. The count total is 122 species between all of the groups. No major rarities reported this year, but a good count regardless. 13 hours of birding.