Snowy weather and poor visibility didn’t put a damper on Saturday’s Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Although only two-thirds of the data is in, Pam Randles of the Takshanuk Watershed Council offered a snapshot of the findings.
Thirty-six people around Haines townsite and Mosquito Lake got out in the blustery weather to view Haines’ birds. Most people went on foot or by car, but at least one went by bicycle and several skied or skijored, Randles said.
The number of birds counted in the Haines circle – 1,012 – was lower than average, but the number was higher than average with 390 birds spotted in the Mosquito Lake circle.
Most of the winged wildlife were the usual suspects, but a few oddballs were spotted in the mix.
The number of species seen was about normal, 32 for Haines and 14 for Mosquito Lake. Some regular sightings included eagles, ravens, crows, magpies, jays, chickadees, juncos, redpolls, siskins, goldeneyes, buffleheads, mergansers, scoters, gulls, swans, dippers, a spruce grouse, a great blue heron, a marbled murrelet, a nuthatch and a kinglet.
Chloe Goodson of the American Bald Eagle Foundation said she only saw a total of five birds at two different spots in Haines due to the poor visibility, but had fun in the process.
“It was sort of warm outside so I didn’t mind it,” Goodson said.
But unusual sightings included above average numbers of mallards; a short-eared owl, four hooded mergansers and nine red-breasted mergansers usually seen only during migration times (now is late); an American three-toed woodpecker, which Randles said is a rare sighting for a year-round resident species; two Pacific wrens and a song sparrow that are usually only summer breeders in the valley; and 112 Bohemian waxwings in two large groups and seven pine grosbeaks.
Randles said, so far, 25 people have volunteered over 56 hours of their time for the count.