On December 16th, I did my first Christmas Bird Count on Corban's campus, along with three friends. I had done feeder counts for years but never had I ever done a count in the field. Exciting times. (I should mention that there is a practical value in this madness: The Audubon Society uses the data to help monitor bird populations.)

The weather had been sunny almost all week leading up to Count Day, and with the bit of rain on Friday, I was sure that Saturday would be pouring buckets. There was no possible way I could actually expect good weather for the count. Amazingly, I was wrong! Apart from a bit of mist when we began and ended, it was dry the entire time, with a patch of sun here and there.

So, the four of us charged off into the chilly morning, binoculars in hand. Going up the hill through a nice little garden, we saw chickadees and nuthatches, and even a Downy Woodpecker. But no Brown Creepers, which surprised me.

In a brushy area farther uphill, we found a decent amount of emberizids, mainly Spotted Towhees and Golden-crowned Sparrows. Fox Sparrows were heard but not seen, which turned out to be the case for the entire trip.

We finally made it over the hilltop and started our downward journey into the woods. All of us agreed that it would be nice to add an owl to our count. After walking just a few more yards down the trail, what should fly in front of us but a Great Horned Owl! We heard just one flap as it took off; the rest of its flight was utterly silent.

Carrying on, we went through a stretch of firs that were simply dripping with kinglets. I'm not sure if we even counted all that were present, as they were all moving around so rapidly that we were afraid of double-counting any. There were also some more chickadees, but no creepers.

Once we got out of the forest, and began trekking up, down, and around through the fields, we had a lovely burst of sunlight. Oh, there were hawks and sparrows, but the bluebirds were stunning. In the bright sun, the blue coloring just popped!

There were lots of Cackling Geese in the field across the road, at least 120 by our rough estimate. However, there was also one snowy-white blotch that stood out amongst the gray-brown Cacklers. The mysterious pale bird lifted its head, and we could see the pink bill: It was a Snow Goose!

Anyhow, it was getting to be lunchtime, and so we began to meander back to the car. We went back via the one path we hadn't taken yet, which also wound past plenty of trees and shrubbery. It was great because we bagged a couple of Bewick's Wrens and Townsend's Warblers.

Still no sign of the Brown Creepers, though.

So, I thought it would be a good idea to make a circuit of the trees around the parking lot by where I was parked because I knew Brown Creepers frequented those trees. We picked up two thrushes for our count that we did not see in the forest: A Varied Thrush and a Hermit Thrush.

Best parking lot birds ever!

But... There were still no Brown Creepers! I am firmly convinced that birds get together before humans count them, to decide which common species will not show up. Just like last May's Birdathon, when I sailed past my old personal record for the number of species seen but didn't get a single American Kestrel during the entire month.

(I'm still kind of salty about that.)

Overall, however, we had a fantastic day. Four people (who were crazy enough to wander around a hillside in below-40º temperatures) spent four hours counting birds. It was a great time of fellowship, and we saw lots of cool birds. Can't wait to do it again next year!

P.S. I feel obligated to note that the Townsend's Warbler in the cover photo is not from the CBC. I had no Count Day photos that were of a shareable quality.