Every December, groups of birders set out to identify and count birds in specified areas as part of a citizen science project that began 125 years ago in 1900. Doug Henderson and Rusty Scalf share some special highlights from the 2024 count on Alameda and Bay Farm Island. https://alamedapost.com/features/nature/alameda-christmas-bird-count-for-2024/

#alameda #birds #birdwatching #ChristmasBirdCount #shorebirds

A recounting of the Christmas Bird Count a couple weeks back, my first in Oregon. It was an awesome experience and we saw some great birds.

https://daniel.observer/journal/christmas-bird-count-2024-wallowa-county

#birds #birding #ChristmasBirdCount

A Great Blue Heron hunting in the ag fields during the #ChristmasBirdCount

Love these friends

#birds #birding

My lifer Gray Partridges from the #ChristmasBirdCount

There was a covey in this little cemetery on the east moraine, quickly moving between the bases of the thick shrubs growing on the cemetery grounds.

Gray Partridges are a non-native species here, introduced for hunting long ago and since naturalized out on the prairies. Beautiful!

#birds #birding

Northern Pygmy-owl from the #ChristmasBirdCount last weekend.

Still not sure how the group managed to spot this little one. So, so tiny. Looked like the clumps of leaves I've been fooled by 1000 times

#birds #birding #owls