Christmas Bird Count
Yesterday I experienced my first Christmas Bird Count right here in Schenectady. I have always wanted to do this because the data that is collected is so important in protecting birds and their habitat. An expert birder who has been doing this for many years initiated me in the Count. We walked one site after another listening and looking for signs of birds. It was cloudy and cold, so we were challenged to stay with it for over 5 hours. It was very exciting to go on the "hunt" for birds. We really wanted to find a great horned owl, but no luck. We did see 5 species of woodpeckers: Downey, Hairy, Piliated, Yellow- Bellied Sapsucker and Red Breasted. That was a real treat. At one site we estimated a mob of 250 crows - American and Fish. They were making quite a din! That always means something is disturbing them; they are the sentinels of the forest. In this case, they had spotted a coyote! We counted many other species. I loved the mallards and common mergansers by the Mohaw