Keep Calm and Bird On: December 2024

December 1, 2024
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.”
-Edith Andrews

As December rolls around, we start thinking about the Christmas Bird Counts (CBC), which will be going on in communities all around us. Nantucket’s count is on Sunday, December 29 this year. It is always scheduled on a Sunday to avoid conflicts with hunters. It’s not only for birders safety.

 

One year Edie Ray had a memorable experience on a Cape Cod count: the bird they had just tallied was shot—legally, it was a game bird, in season, harvested by properly licensed hunters—before they left the area. Could they count it because it was alive when they saw it? Should they scratch it because they saw it die? Count the number of that species as one half?

 

It’s always good to remember that no data about the real world is perfect. We just get as close as we can. We count species for the three days before, and three days after the count. This enables us to include elusive rarities if any are present, but overly shy on the appointed day. We look at numbers only on count day. We divide the Island into eight different sections, noting times and if we are close to a boundary with another section. This enables us to get a sense of numbers without double-counting – always an issue checked at the compilation.

 

In any case, this year as in the past, Libby Buck will be compiling the list. Look for further sign-up info in our bi-weekly newsletter if you are here and want to participate.

 

Aside from its value as data on what is here in winter, the CBC is a last chance to find additions for your year list, if you dipped, or if a “nemesis bird” eluded you—despite being seen by—seemingly—everyone else. With many more eyes out there, chances are someone can help you find it. And it’s a good excuse to spend the entire day birding.


Image Credit: A Western Tanager, a rare find at last year's Christmas Bird Count by Louis Dentiste.

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