Christmas Bird Count for Kids!
by Andrew Bryant, 6 December 2014
For the third year in a row, the Young Naturalists participated in the Christmas Bird Count for Kids. Although not an official Audubon event, it’s a great excuse for families to get out and about, learn some new birds and socialize with others.
Nicely organized by Elizabeth Tenhoeve and Michael Stewart, nine children and about a dozen adults braved the somewhat scary-looking weather and showed up at Willingdon Beach. In fact the rains parted and it proved to be a great day. Thanks also to John Treen, Neil Hughes, Heather Harbord, Janet Bingham, Clyde Burton and Nick Hauser for the scopes and birding expertise, and to Angelique Veerman and Gillian Andrew for the hot chocolate!
In all we counted 26 species and 156 individuals. Highlights for me included a Thayer’s gull, Mew gulls, a very cooperative Varied thrush, and a flock of about 30 Kildeer that showed off their amazing ability to hide in plain sight!