Christmas Bird Count Is Coming

Christmas has special meaning depending on who you are and what you believe.

Christmas Bird Count by the Numbers

The 2013 Christmas Bird Count was held Jan. 4 on the Vineyard and tallied 16,349 individuals and 119 species.

Always a Beginner on Hunt for Birds

A self-described beginning birder for almost 25 years finds the annual Christmas Bird Count a journey of discovery this year.

Christmas Bird Count Soars With Many Colorful Presents

Shortly after 11 a.m. on Saturday a large flock of buffleheads, common goldeneye and scaup floating on the southwest side of Sengekontacket Pond began to move as a unit towards the frozen marshes on the shore of the pond.

Christmas Bird Count

The annual Martha’s Vineyard Christmas Bird Count was held on Saturday, Jan. 4. There were 39 hardy people who ventured out into the cold weather (-7 degrees at the airport at 7 a.m.) to count birds, and another 14 people who recorded the birds visiting their feeders.

By the Numbers

The one question the compiler Rob Culbert and the author are very interested in answering is: What is the real number of snowy owls on Martha’s Vineyard?

Results of 2012 Christmas Bird Count

This year 121 individual species were spotted by the 14 feeder-watchers and 60 official birdwatchers, up from 119 last year.

Here is the complete list of species observed on the Dec. 29, 2012 Martha’s Vineyard Christmas Bird Count.

Christmas Bird Count Is Humming Along

Whit Manter and Tim Spahr drove beneath a full moon in the very early hours of Saturday morning, heading for the State Forest. It was 3 a.m. when they arrived at their destination. As soon as they stepped out of the car, they heard an unmistakable sound. Hoo. Hoo hoo hoo.

Vineyard Christmas Bird Count

We had a beautiful day on Saturday, Jan. 5 for the Vineyard’s forty-eighth consecutive Christmas Bird Count. We beat Nantucket, sort of, but more on that later. It was a day of fair weather with a bit of wind, but no rain or fog to dampen the birds’ or birders’ spirit. We had a great turnout with 69 field participants including six from Nantucket, a couple from Cape Cod and a couple from the Boston area.

Snow Fallen, Bird Counters Never Surrender

Down an unplowed path in West Tisbury behind an ox pen sits a house at the edge of the woods. The bitterly cold morning has not yet broken and the snow is glowing a pale moonlit blue, but inside the lights are on and the tenants are restless. Bob Woodruff is preparing his team for the 50th annual Martha’s Vineyard Christmas Bird Count, delayed this year until Jan. 5 by the weather.

He slaps an aerial photograph of the Island on his kitchen table and surveys it like a military general.