A New Count

Today we participated in the first ever UC Davis winter bird count. Andy Engelis, who heads up the Museum of Wildlife and Fisheries Biology, had the idea to start this count of the 5,300 acre campus (the largest campus of the University of California system), modeling it on the Christmas Bird Counts. This first edition got off to a great start, with about 50 participants (I figure that many of these folks have been suffering from Christmas Bird Count withdrawal and needed their fix.)

We got to do the bit nearest our house; five of us walked the portion of campus east of Old Davis Road and south of the railroad tracks, birding along Putah Creek and in and behind some of the Vet Med field buildings. The most exciting bird was the Purple Finch that we tried very hard to turn into a Cassin’s Vireo based on its call and song, which faked both Pica and me out before Pica finally got a good look at it.

There is a lot less territory to cover on this count than on Christmas Bird Counts, which are based on a 7.5 mile radius count circle, so our count was over by noon and we all convened at Steve’s Pizza in town for our compilation lunch. Some of the good birds seen included a White-Throated Sparrow, a Chestnut-Backed Chickadee, Lark Sparrows, and an immature Golden Eagle. The number of bird species seen in total by everyone today was 102. We all had fun, and are looking forward to next year’s edition!