Julia Osgood, Mesilla Valley Audubon Society board member, speaks with KC Counts about the Christmas Bird Count. Here's a transcript of their conversation:
KC Counts:
I think the first thing that I thought when I learned about the Christmas bird count was that it must be a lot like herding cats.
Julia Osgood:
Yeah, I actually probably said that at one time.
KC Counts:
Yeah. Where do you start?
Julia Osgood:
Well, you know, basically we start with historical data because we've been doing this, well, the bird count is in its 126th year nationally and in Canada. So, yeah, we have data from past years and participants from past years. So, you know, I started doing it this year. I hadn't done it before here. I've never been a CBC compiler before, so that was new to me. But I had a list of people who had participated before and especially the leaders and contacted them and asked if they were willing to do it again for that sector and started rounding up volunteers and assigning them to teams.
KC Counts:
How many volunteers are participating?
Julia Osgood:
Oh it's an excellent question let me think I'd say at least more than 30 we probably had we have 13 different teams and areas within our circle, so the Christmas Bird Count and the National Audubon organization has it by circles. So each area has a circle. It's a 15-mile radius. And within that circle, the different areas can have different teams. So our area has 13. And so let's say, oh, there were five people at each one, something like that.
KC Counts:
And so they each take kind of a concentrated area, right? Or a smaller area.
Julia Osgood:
Right.
KC Counts:
And would that be kind of around their home or is it based on where they live or do they have to then go out somewhere to lookfor birds.
Julia Osgood:
For some people, it is where they live, but I think for most people, it's just an area, a sector that we've defined. You know, we count everything. We try to count every bird in that 15-mile radius, which is quite a task. So some of those sections or sectors are larger than others and require more volunteers. But some people may go to a different sector that's not near where they live, but maybe it's somewhere that they bird regularly and they're familiar with.
KC Counts:
Okay, dumb question. How do you know you're not counting the same bird over and over and over?
Julia Osgood:
That is a good question. I was looking at a couple of lists today, in fact, because I'm getting some data in from people. I was on a team that was split up into some sub-teams, and so we saw probably 60 red-winged blackbirds. But they do fly around. And so later they flew over to Sagecrest Park. And maybe those 60 were part of that. It is hard to tell. So you just have to, we do it that way. We do it by sector. We can't guarantee that that bird didn't fly over to somewhere else later in the day.
KC Counts:
Tell me a little bit about the variety of species that you encounter.
Julia Osgood:
Well, here in our area, we see the typical winter residents like sparrows, hawks, and we do see a number of waterfowl because we're on the Rio Grande corridor, which is part of the central flyway. And because there's always a little bit of water in the Rio Grande, even though it's not flowing this time of year, we see overwintering waterfowl like American pipits and sandpipers, solitary sandpipers, you know, other kind of little birds like that that just poke around in kind of shallow water and poke for nutrients and little bugs and stuff in the dirt.
KC Counts:
What is the most special bird that you've seen or that maybe you're hoping to see?
Julia Osgood:
Well, every year, there's always, you have to, if you see a rare bird, something that wouldn't be typical for our area, you have to write up a report about it; and we did have two of those this year. We had the Lawrence's goldfinch and the acorn woodpecker. So they're not like rare birds, you know, they're not like endangered or anything. They're just not typical for our area. So an acorn woodpecker would be common in, say, southeastern Arizona, but not so much here. And Lawrence's goldfinches have different migration paths, but they're more common on the West Coast. But we've seen a small group of them, and they're still here. They saw them on the Christmas Bird Count day, and a bunch of us have gone out to see them since then. So that's been kind of fun.
KC Counts:
What are your concerns regarding bird populations for our area? I know that in recent years, we've been talking a lot about a lot of species loss, right? Have you seen that locally?
Julia Osgood:
Oh, yes. Our numbers, we talked about that. We have an after party after the count, and more than one team said that their count numbers were down from what they were hoping to see; and yes, bird numbers are declining significantly, especially birds in grassland areas. And so the birds I was talking about, sparrows, meadowlarks, that kind of thing, their numbers are down and declining, and it's not like we can change that, but counting them does help track that data, so that if that data feeds into scientific databases and affects, you know, conservation issues and environmental trends and things like that. So it does help to have it. It's not something we can change, but it's nice to record the data.
KC Counts:
What if someone would like to participate? How do they go about doing that?
Julia Osgood:
Really, it's pretty easy. So if you go to The National Audubon, well, actually all you have to do is type it into any browser Christmas Bird Count, and that will land you on the National Audubon Christmas Bird Count page. And from that, you can, as I mentioned earlier, the circles. So you could find a circle in your area, and that will have the compiler's name and contact information. So you can do that. Here locally, people can e-mail mesillavalleyaudubon@gmail.com and just request to be added to the participant list. So, it's over for this year, but we can certainly take people's names and add them.
KC Counts:
And for people who maybe are just starting out, you take the next year to kind of get informed, how much experience do you need to be able to competently do this?
Julia Osgood:
You don't have to be an expert. What we try to do is, and I think we're pretty successful as a rule, is we pair beginners or inexperienced people with experienced birders. And so that way, you know, sometimes people who aren't experienced birders, it kind of sounds kind of strange, but sometimes It's helpful just to have somebody say, hey, look, I saw, look, over there. They may not know what it is, but the people who are more experienced can identify it. And we need people to track the data as we go. Sometimes some of the routes have a lot of driving involved, so it's hard to drive and really look at birds. So sometimes that person can drive while other people in the car identify birds. So, you know, it's helpful to have a range of experience on the teams.
KC Counts:
Yeah, and we could bring you water.
Julia Osgood:
Yeah, that's right.
KC Counts:
Bring the bird seed.
Julia Osgood:
And snacks.
KC Counts:
Now, you don't do anything to lure the birds, right?
Julia Osgood:
No, no.
KC Counts:
What else do you think is interesting about this process that maybe people who aren't familiar with it would be surprised to know?
Julia Osgood:
Well, it's fun. I mean, that's one thing I think maybe people wouldn't think of. It is an all-day event, which can seem a bit intimidating or something, but you take breaks. Most groups stop and have lunch and chat, get to know people, so you get to meet new people. and learn about birds. Even people who've been birding a long time can learn something. Lawrence's goldfinch was a new bird for me. I'd never seen one. So, you know, it's things like that. It's, yeah, I think that would be probably the most surprising thing is it really is a fun thing to do.
KC Counts:
And so you did the count. It's just one day then for the groups here.
Julia Osgood:
That's right. Yeah, that's how it is across the country.
KC Counts:
I read somewhere that the whole thing kind of wraps up on the fifth. Does it go in different stages around the country.
Julia Osgood:
No, in our area, in America, North America, it's December 14th through January 5th.
KC Counts:
Gotcha.
Julia Osgood:
So every team has to do that. And there is what's called a count week. So if you see a bird, it's kind of hard to describe, but if you see something like the day before, And you think, oh geez, I might not see this tomorrow or whatever. You can't count it on your list, but you can put it as a count week, so it indicates that that bird was seen. So it's a little bit of an overlap on that timeframe.
KC Counts:
All right. Do you have a favorite bird?
Julia Osgood:
Oh, people ask me that. Let's see. I'm going to say in our area, the curb-billed thrasher is my favorite bird. We have them in our yard, and they have a lot of personality. We throw out mealworms for them, and if we don't get them out on time, they will come and sit on a chair in the patio and kind of look at it through the kitchen window. It's like, get out here. So to me, they're fun birds to watch.
KC Counts:
How about for folks who would like to attract birds to their backyard, what do you recommend?
Julia Osgood:
Well, probably, I mean, you know, the typical answer would be food and water. So bird seed, water features are a big attractant around here where, you know, we have a, you know, an arid climate. So bird baths, drip feeders, if you can arrange that. Different kinds of foods. Sometimes in the winter, I mean, some birds in the winter will go to suet, which has a lot of fat and protein and it keeps them fed during the winter. Some birds come to feeders, obviously some birds don't, but like Flycatchers won't be to your feeder, but here you can have thistle feeders to attract the lesser goldfinches and the calfinches. So yeah, just a variety of seed and water.
KC Counts:
There was a, I have a grackle that comes. I think it's the same bird that comes every year and he'll bring his food to the pool to wash it. We have like a sloped entrance.
Julia Osgood:
Yeah.
KC Counts:
And he'll bring things and I'll see him washing things in the pool, to take and eat. It's fascinating to watch. Of course, one day there he was with a dove's wing.
Julia Osgood:
Oh my gosh. Yeah, I've gone out and I have found crust of bread in the bird bath a grackle left and definitely pecans. We have a pecan tree, so they'll soak them in there for the day and try to come back later.
KC Counts:
All right, well, Julia Osgood, thank you so much for sharing more about the Christmas Bird Count with us. We appreciate your time.
Julia Osgood:
All right, thank you very much.
You can learn more about the Christmas Bird Count right here.
And you can visit the Mesilla Valley Audubon Society here.
