Christmas Bird Count

Fri, December 28, 12:00 midnight – 11:59 pm
Indiana, PA
Outing Leader: Margaret Higbee, , 724-354-3493

Description

The 30th annual Indiana Christmas Bird Count will be held on Friday, December 28. The 15-mile-diameter count circle is centered at the intersection of Second and Grandview in Indiana. If you live within 7.5 miles of that intersection as the crow flies, your home is within the circle. We need feeder watchers as well as field birders.

We will meet at 6:00 p.m. on the 28th to compile the count and eat dinner, probably at Hossï¿½s. Our count dinner is always a lot of fun. If you havenï¿½t come before, give it a try this year. Itï¿½s fun listening to tales from the field as well as stories from feederwatchers. Please contact the Higbees if you have any questions or plan to participate (724-354-3493; bcoriole@windstream.net).

During the past 29 years, we have listed a total of 123 species on the various count days, always December 26 or 27 if the 26th happened to fall on a Sunday. Some of our previous highlights include Red-throated Loon, Rednecked Grebe, Northern Goshawk, Rough-legged Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, Virginia Rail, Long-eared Owl, Shorteared Owl, Red-headed Woodpecker, Northern Shrike, Lapland Longspur, Snow Bunting, Pine Grosbeak, Common Redpoll, and White-winged Crossbill. An additional four species, never listed on count day, were seen during count week, three days bracketing the actual count. Those four species are Snow Goose, Wood Thrush, Brewerï¿½s Blackbird, and White-winged Crossbill.

Our counts with the greatest variety occurred in 1998 and in 2007, the two years we listed 82 species. Much depends upon the weathers and whether Yellow Creek Lake freezes over. When we have open water, we see waterfowl; but when the lake is frozen, the possibility of seeing those species evaporates.

Plan now to participate!

If you participated in this trip, you may add an outing report.