First bird count held

At six a.m. on Dec. 19, 20 people gathered in a small, out-of-the-way classroom near LaWard at the Formosa Tejano Wetlands. Bundled up to combat the biting early morning cold, they partnered up and scattered across Jackson County, binoculars in one hand, paper checklist in the other. Jackson County’s inaugural Christmas Bird Count was underway.

 

Nationwide, the Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count is a tradition in its 116th year. Jackson County has never participated, although surrounding counties run quite successful bird counts every year. Calhoun, Victoria, and Matagorda Counties all participate, leaving a blank space where Jackson County’s data could be. When Calhoun County teacher Debra Sonsel suggested a Jackson County count, Formosa Plastics and Bill Harvey, their communications manager, dove right in to help sponsor the event.  On Saturday, the idea came to fruition, although the first year was something of a trial run, to help set the 15-mile area in which birders would search for species. 

 

On the various properties, over the course of 12 hours, 174 different species were spotted by the group, some near the bay at Cape Carancahua, some on the Tejano Wetlands themselves, even as far out as Bennett Park. 

 

“Our total of 174 species is really good,” said Master Birder Bob Friedrichs, who helped organize the count. “We found good numbers of wetland, thorn scrub, grassland, riparian, bay/beach and town-preferring species.  We missed some of the more expected species that, with a few more birders in the field next year, we should be able to find. These include Ross Goose, Wild Turkey, American Bittern, Black-crowned Night-Heron, King Rail, Virginia Rail, Sora, Black-necked Stilt, Short-eared Owl, any hummingbird, Least Flycatcher, Cave Swallow, Wilson’s Warbler and LeConte’s Sparrow. I really look forward to digging into the data to better understand the right spot for our new circle.”

 

The goal is to get more birders involved next year, to help grow the count and contribute important data to conservationists and scientists in many fields, including biologists and climate scientists, and many more. Christmas Bird Count Data is important in many fields for many different uses.

 

Bob Friedrichs, Bill Harvey and Formosa Plastics Corporation, Ben Boone and Alcoa, Fred Beck, Hunter Friedrichs, Brent Ortego, Debra Sonsel, and many others collaborated to make the count possible, and look forward to a future of annual Christmas Bird Counts in Jackson County.

 

A full list of the species that were counted and identified is available at the Jackson County Herald-Tribune.