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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend December 20, 2005 Christmas Bird Count finds thousands By BILL VARBLE Mail Tribune Fifty Jackson County birders braved ice and fog to count 129 species and more than 50,000 birds in Saturday’s Christmas Bird Count. It was the 106th edition of an annual Audubon event gathering data on bird populations across the continent. "It was right up there," Ashland birder Denny Niebuhr says of the day. "The modern record is 132." Unusual sightings included a Ross’ goose and an American tree sparrow — the latter only the sixth ever seen in the county — in the Denman Wildlife Area near White City. A blue- winged teal was spotted at Mingus Marsh, northern pygmy owls near Upper Table Rock and a saw-whet owl near Roxy Ann Peak. Four short-eared owls were seen next to the runway at the Medford airport. The eight rock wrens on Lower Table Rock were the most seen there in recent history. The Agate Lake area yielded four horned larks. The northern mockingbird population seemed to continue an increase. Birds that should not be here included a Townsend’s warbler and an osprey over the Rogue River. Ospreys are supposed to be sunning themselves in Latin America. Advertisement "Although, it’s getting more common to see them in the winter," Niebuhr says. Other good birds of the day were vesper sparrows, a northern shrike and an orange-crowned warbler. A team of novice birders at the new Jefferson Nature Center on South Pacific Highway came up with 34 species and 570 birds. The birders fanned out in a radius of 7.5 miles from the intersection of Highways 140 and 62 as early as 6 a.m. At 5 p.m. it was time to swap results and war stories. Teams with the most species were the Stewart Janes group in the Old Stage Road vicinity with 91, the Jim Livaudais twosome who birded from the TouVelle area to the north with 84, and Niebuhr’s sextet around Agate Lake with 80. Topping the list for numbers was the American robin with 22,870 individuals, and the European starling with 12,892. Nearly 8,000 starlings were sighted at the Dry Creek Landfill, which Niebuhr proposes be re-named Starlingfill. A Brave-But-Foolish Award went to Pepper Trail and Chris Uthoff, both of Ashland, for breaking ice to float Kelly Slough in a canoe. It was the latest edition of a rite more than a century old. Christmas Bird Count began on Christmas Day 1900 when George Ellis came up with the day of counting, instead of killing, the birds of Norwalk, Conn. Before then people would shoot birds in traditional holiday "side hunts" to see who could kill the most. Women still wore plumed hats, and the idea of counting birds was considered radical. Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail Christmas Bird Count finds thousands ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Student Loans Online Pharmacy tcg student loan consolidation Online Casino Reviews Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Deep Muscle Stimulator Discount Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Salvia Divinorum Online Casino Advertisement s