My Christmas Bird Count Highlights

This winter’s Christmas Bird Count will end on January 5, 2023, but I suspect that most birding groups have already completed their counts.  I participated in the Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge CBC—a bird survey that I’ve helped with many times over the years—on December 17, which is fairly early in the count period.  The weather started out fairly cold (for this area, at least), but it warmed up a bit over the course of the day, and the woods that make up most of my birding territory provided a surprising amount of protection from the wind.  I started out at Dorman Lake, where I usually pick up on a few Red-cockaded Woodpecker calls as those birds begin to stir in the early morning.  Unfortunately, there were none to be heard in the woods near that lake.

Overall, I would say that bird activity was low.  There were relatively few larger groups of sparrows, warblers, and other small species in the forests and thickets, and I saw no ducks at all—not even at Dorman Lake, where I usually find flocks of Ring-necked Ducks.  However, even though I didn’t see as many species as I am accustomed to finding, there were both expected and unexpected delights.  One of the unexpected ones was an American Kestrel in an area outside of my territory.  For at least a minute or two, the male kestrel darted, swooped, and hovered over the fields and the catalpa trees near the road.  Because birds tend not to stay in one place for very long, this kestrel went undetected by the birders who were covering this territory, so I was able to add it to the count list!  In this same area, I spotted two Vesper Sparrows, which are quite uncommon in this region of the country.  Vesper Sparrows usually inhabit fields and pastures, and their pale bills, white eye-rings, wing-bars, and white outer tail feathers help to distinguish them from other sparrows.  These Vesper Sparrows perched in a tree along the side of the road, allowing me to take some photographs.

Other species that I saw in various locations included White-throated, Song, Swamp, and Savannah Sparrows; White-breasted and Brown-headed Nuthatches; Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets; Yellow-throated and Pine Warblers; Red-headed, Red-bellied, Downy, Hairy, and Pileated Woodpeckers; Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers; Northern Flickers; Eastern Phoebes; Winter and Carolina Wrens; and a good number of others.  All of these were expected, but that didn't make them any less interesting to me.  No, there weren’t as many individuals and species as last year, but I had a great time in the field, regardless!  There is no substitute for time spent enjoying the outdoors, and the CBC is a rewarding way to do just that.