558 N. Main St., Prineville, OR 97754 | (541) 447-6205
A merlin perches in a juniper tree along Johnson Creek.
If you noticed people driving slowly through town and around the valley on New Year’s Eve looking through binoculars or spotting scopes, don’t be alarmed. They weren’t Men in Black, FBI or peeping Toms; they were 24 birders combing the area in search of the winged ones during the annual Prineville Christmas Bird Count.
There has been a count in Prineville since 1966. It ran from 1966-73 and then was discontinued. Tom Crabtree of Bend started it back up in 1991 and organized it for about 10 years until Chuck Gates took it over about 10 years ago. Gates teaches biology at Crook County High School and is an expert birder. His life list stands at 706, state list at 406 and county list at 275.
The first national Christmas Bird Count was conducted in 1899 in response to a suggestion made by the National Audubon Society, and has become the oldest continuous wildlife survey in North America. There are now almost 1,700 counts nationwide with about 50,000 birders involved. Hundreds of millions of individual birds of more than 600 species are recorded each year.
Sponsored by the National Audubon Society and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the census is conducted within a 15-mile diameter circle. The area covered for the Prineville count goes roughly from Allen Creek in the north to lower Davis Loop in the south, and from Elliott Lane in the west to just past Ochoco Reservoir in the east.
Besides numbers and species of birds, other data is collected such as habitats, weather, number of counters, and miles traveled by car and on foot. Each count is conducted during a single day within two weeks of Christmas.
Not only is the Christmas Bird Count fun, it also gathers data of scientific significance. Gates said these counts are very important in that they help provide worldwide bird population data. When combined with other surveys such as the Breeding Bird Survey, it provides a picture of how bird populations have changed in time and space over the past hundred years.
Everyone agreed that the best bird of the day was a Long-tailed Duck, formerly known as Oldsquaw. This was a life bird for many that day, including myself. It’s the first this bird was seen on the count since 2000, and the fourth county record for this species. The name change happened in 2000.
Other good finds were White-fronted Goose, Cackling Goose, Snow Goose, Eurasian Wigeon, Western Grebe, Turkey, Virginia Rail, and Northern Goshawk. High counts occurred for American Kestrel, Great Horned Owl, Sora, and Bushtit.
A total of 86 species and 27,570 individuals birds were counted by the six groups. My group saw 63 of those species, which included 5,320 robins, the most plentiful bird of the day. We covered the area north of town between McKay Creek and Johnson Creek.
This year was warmer than most, and there was plenty of open water. Gates said this meant good numbers of waterfowl, but lower numbers of forest birds, which are still at higher elevations. The overall numbers for this count were the second highest ever, mostly due to high numbers of American Robins (almost 10,000). In 1993, there were 20,000 robins, which helped set the record for individual birds.
Because of limited access to private property, about 25 percent of the count circle goes uncounted. If the public would like to open up their property for the count, they can contact Chuck Gates at 541-280-4957 or cgates326@gmail.com
“I would like to thank the community for putting up with a batch of bird lovers peering into their yards and fields,” said Gates. “We’ve had nothing but positive responses from people in our area, and we really appreciate the people of Prineville.”
