President's Column-- Counting Toward Conservation
When I close my eyes and envision the perfect day, I see a dark, starry, pre-dawn morning, a hot cup of coffee warming my hands, friends wearing binoculars and cold red noses, gathered for a beautiful sunrise drive to a birding wonderland. My perfect day isn’t just a dream; it’s coming up in less than two weeks! December and January mean annual DC Audubon winter conservation projects: C&O Canal Midwinter Bird Survey and Christmas Bird Count.
This year, we are particularly excited because January 19, 2008 marks the 10th anniversary of the C&O Canal Midwinter Bird Survey. This is an entire decade of dedicated volunteers covering a whopping 184.5 miles every year. I am proud of the members of the DC Audubon Board of Directors who have seen this effort through from the beginning. It has taken a decade of hard work and dedication to organize approximately 60 volunteers each year.
This year’s count will accomplish our goal of conducting a long-term effort to monitor the distribution and relative abundance of wintering bird populations along the C&O Canal. Our new online data output functions allow us to track bird populations by species and by mile over the past 10 years. The data can then be applied to conservation and management. For example, an almost record low of Canada geese in 2006 raises several questions. Is this a response to hunting pressure? Is this a response to lethal control efforts? Or, is it simply a fluke? Long-term monitoring helps to answer those questions.
The magical day works like this: on one midwinter morning, volunteers situate themselves at their favorite mile of the canal and begin walking the towpath and counting the birds they see and hear. Those birds can include bursts of juncos, a variety of woodpeckers, as well as brown creeper, winter wren, and the gorgeous cedar waxwing. Most volunteers are veterans of the event, but new volunteers are welcome and encouraged. Those who are new to birding can be paired up with an old hat. Check out more information on our website: http://www.dcaudubon.org/canal.
The other upcoming perfect day is the Christmas Bird Count (CBC). The count, sponsored by the National Audubon Society, is the oldest and largest citizen science event and extends across North America. It was started on Christmas day of 1900 by NAS officer Frank Chapman as an alternative to the “side hunt.” The side hunt was an event at which hunters competed to shoot the greatest numbers of birds. The CBC gives you the chance to use your competitive edge for good rather than evil! And the count’s conservation purpose continues today by serving to monitor bird populations.
DC Audubon covers the Lower Kent County circle in Maryland. In just a few short weeks on December 16, 2007, the tradition will continue when DC Audubon heads out to Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge after, of course, stopping off for some hot eggs and potatoes at the Rock Hall diner. Yesterday, I pulled up data from our circle and found that over the last decade, one of my favorite birds, the long-tailed duck, has been spotted every year for the past decade, with an incredible high of 2265 being spotted in 2006. Other birds spotted along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay include ducks, swans, and geese. I’m excited this year to see if the 2007 summer drought or Indian summer will impact what birds I’m going to see.
Most people wouldn’t describe me as traditional, but these are traditions I would never want to miss. What a treat to join tens of thousands of volunteers in counting toward conservation.
