Checking on our fowl friends
Birders to head out across Virginia, North Carolina for Christmas count
WANCHESE, N.C. — Large white pelicans with nine-foot wingspans and long orange bills sit on the ponds at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge as relative newcomers.
More than 100 of these birds have wintered here in five of the last seven years. No more than five showed up on the Outer Banks in the 1980s.
“A couple of decades ago, if a white pelican was spotted in North Carolina, birders would jump in their car and travel hundreds of miles to see it,” said Jeff Lewis, a compiler for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count.
For 120 years the annual count has served as a barometer for how birds are faring. Teams are heading out this year as usual in groups across the country, including southeastern Virginia, northeastern North Carolina and the Outer Banks. The counts over the years have revealed losses and gains in bird species such as the white pelican on Pea Island.
A recent report by Audubon showed that there are three billion fewer birds today than there were 50 years ago. The report used data from sources such as the Christmas bird count and the annual breeding bird survey.
Habitat loss and insecticides are among the contributors to the loss. The report estimated the loss of about six million shorebirds such as sanderlings since 1970.
Some birds, including the bald eagle, have rebounded. A record 410 were spotted in North Carolina in the 2018 Christmas count. Wood ducks have gained 20 million birds nationally in the last 50 years, according to the Audubon report.
Compilers such as Lewis will oversee a group of about 25 people who, on a certain day, will roam through an area 15 miles in diameter known as a count circle. Lewis did a count Dec. 15 in the Kitty Hawk circle. He will lead two other counts during the holidays at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.
Last year, there were a record 2,615 count circles in the United States, Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, Bermuda and the Pacific Islands, according to a news release from the Audubon Society. In all, 79,425 observers counted more than 48 million birds representing more than 2,600 different species, the release said.
Many count circles are in the Hampton Roads area.
Lewis and his crew will be up before dawn and will go until sunset. The weather can be wet and cold. It’s a long day, said
Lewis, who works as the horticulturalist at the Coastal Studies Institute in Wanchese.
Knowing birds by their calls is crucial, Lewis said.
“You hear a lot more than you see,” he said.
Lewis and his group spotted a rare painted bunting during the Kitty Hawk circle count. He hopes to see a rough-legged hawk seen recently in Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. It is a hawk more common west and north of North Carolina.
To participate, go to Audubon count circle maps and contact the compiler. The counts conclude Jan. 5.
A recent report by Audubon showed that there are three billion fewer birds today than there were 50 years ago. The report used data from sources such as the Christmas bird count and the annual breeding bird survey.