The first time I participated in a Christmas Bird Count, in 1980, our team's
territory included old farm fields and woods west of Philadelphia. In six
hours of hiking around on a chilly, overcast day, we saw literally more DEER
than individual birds. (The team just across the road from us, however,
found a Long-eared Owl. Sigh...)
On a CBC in northern California some years later, our group hiked several
birdless miles each way in pouring rain to reach a remote reservoir -- where
we found merely a lone pair of Mallards. Then our leader got lost on the way
out, and we stumbled down steep forested hillsides until finding a road at
last.
Oh well, it could be worse -- think of those folks in the far north whose
winter birding consists of looking for ravens at the trash dump by the light
of their truck headlights!
Janet Millenson
Potomac, MD (Montgomery County)
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"Look at the birds!" -- Pascal the parrot |