Yesterday, December 20, was our eighth Sturgeon Bay Christmas
Bird Count (CBC), an event thoroughly enjoyed by all who
participate. Dating back to my very first CBC, done in the
Kewaunee area in Dec. of 1958, I treasure these adventures for
many reasons. Fortunately I had the good sense to start a record
book following my first count and now can look back, make
interesting comparisons, and especially relish the memories of
good times spent with others of similar interests.
That memorable first count involved only a handful of people
who did a lot of hiking in our searches for birds and turned up
only 25 species for the entire day. Our highest count ever was
the Sturgeon Bay CBC of 2001 when 14,497 birds of 72 species were
tallied.
The circular count area having a diameter of 15 miles must be
adhered to rigidly, so important planning, accurate maps for
those helping in the field, and excellent communications are
vital for good results. Fortunately my wife, Charlotte, is
incredibly good at organizing these winter bird surveys.
Naturally weather can play an important part in the count.
Snowy, windy and extremely cold days invariably turn up fewer
birds. The weather this year, although somewhat raw and
penetrating along the waterfronts, was quite good. Another
factor that usually helps bring about a better count is the
presence of a snow-cover on the ground, entirely missing this
year. Small bird movement, for example, is much easier to see
against a white background.
However, the lack of snow did help turn up eight species of
hawks – American kestrel, merlin, sharp-shinned, Cooper’s,
red-tailed, rough-legged, northern harrier and bald eagle. As
soon as the snow becomes a little too deep for especially the
kestrels, harriers, red-tailed and rough-legged hawks to locate
small rodents, they move toward the south. The other four
raptors quite often spend the entire winter in this region.
The sharp-shinned, Cooper’s and merlin frequently depend upon
smaller songbirds for their prey, so the presence of snow might
actually make it easier for them to succeed in the hunt. The bald
eagle exists well on carrion. The most unusual of the eight
species of hawks, one that is rarely seen on Wisconsin CBC’s, was
the merlin. My niece, Wendy Lukes, was riding with our group of
five and spotted the small falcon perched on top of a power pole
at the junction of Rhode Island St. and 15th Aven ue
in residential Sturgeon Bay, feasting on what appeared to be a
mourning dove.
Luckily I had my digital camera plus the adapter that I use to
hook the camera up to my spotting scope. Within a minute or
less I was slowly stalking the little raptor until I was within
around 75 feet of it. I was easily able to get a total of 14
images. This was the first merlin I’ve ever encountered on a
CBC and also photographed, so the picture-taking excitement will
make this count easily stand out in future years. Another good
feature of the pictures is that, this being a species whose
sighting requires detailed documentation for acceptance by our
state Wisconsin Society for Ornithology records people, my
photos will be proof positive of its accurate identity.
It was on January 8, 1991 that I was able to add the merlin to
my life list of birds. This little "bullet" of a
falcon caught and devoured a hairy woodpecker in our front yard
and I was able to watch the episode from start to finish. My
merlin-woodpecker story, number 1170 for this paper, appeared in
the January 18, 1991 issue.
A few years later a pair of merlins nested near the Cana
Island Lighthouse and it was not uncommon to see these swift
fliers catch tree swallows in mid-flight over the water. In fact
the bird experts believe that this is the only raptor in the
state swift enough to accomplish this feat.
The number of species of birds observed during the Sturgeon
Bay CBC’s have varied during the past eight years from a low of
46 in 1996 to a high of 72 in 2001. Total numbers of birds seen
on the count day also have varied a lot – from a low of 5260 in
2000 to a high of 14,497 in 2001. Yesterday 62 dedicated people
helped with the 2003 count.
This was also the best CBC for us with four species of owls
being counted – barred, great-horned, screech and snowy. Eight
species of ducks were documented – common goldeneye, long-tailed,
bufflehead, greater scaup, mallard, American black, common
merganser and red-breasted merganser. Lake Michigan at Cave
Point County Park and northward to Schauer Park is an excellent
place for seeing the flashy and active long-tailed ducks,
formerly called oldsquaw ducks.
One of the most thrilling sightings of the day was the flock
of seven mute swans that flew across the front of us while we
looked for waterfowl in the Sturgeon Bay channel. Just minutes
before we had scoped two of them perched on Dunlap’s Reef along
with dozens of Canada geese. Presumably the giant form of the
Canada goose will again, as in the past seven years, produce the
greatest number for any one species. It was in 1999 that the
count recorded 4033 of them. Yesterday you could look upward
and, regardless of where you were in the count area, or so it
seemed, see some of these huge birds. In fact there was a time
when we estimated there to be 1000+ in flight at one time.
In the case you’d like to make the 2004 Sturgeon Bay CBC one
of your most interesting events of the entire year, let us know
and we’ll sign you up!
This 12-inch tall merlin added much excitement to the
recent Sturgeon Bay Christmas Bird Count.
This column appeared in the Door County Advocate
on 12/27/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Roy Lukes. All rights reserved.
