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Red and orange hues streamed across the sky above thousands of cedar trees at dawn as a barred owl called its familiar “who-cooks-for-you-who-cooks-for-you-all” from a distance at the Lost Mound National Wildlife Refuge in Savanna, Illinois.
My husband Steve and I were participating in one of many Christmas Bird Counts, known as CBCs, held in North America. The first one was held in 1900 on Christmas Day as a new tradition in which people would count birds instead of shooting them during the holidays.
Roughly 25 birders counted species in New England, California and Missouri. Today, roughly 80,000 people worldwide participate in the counts, held for a certain time period each year around Christmas.
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Over the years, I have participated in many CBCs, including along the Des Plaines River in Illinois as well as amid below-zero temperatures in northern Minnesota and at Lost Mound, where we receive special permission to document birds within the closed portions.
The Lost Mound CBC this season would be one of my most memorable.
One of the first CBCs held in Rock Island near Lost Mound began at 11 a.m. and ended at 12:40 p.m. in 1903. A single observer, Burtis H. Wilson, reported time, weather and number of species in a scientific magazine called “Bird-Lore.”
He wrote that the wind was, “becoming a gale, with blinding clouds of snow” in the late morning. He counted a total of seven species, including hairy woodpecker, downy woodpecker, redheaded woodpecker, blue jay, junco, black-capped chickadee and white-breasted nuthatch, with 31 individuals.
Born in 1872, Wilson spent time in Iowa and Illinois searching for and documenting birds. He left his journals to a museum in Davenport, Iowa.
What a joy it would have been had Mr. Wilson been alive to hear about our experiences counting birds this season near where he grew up.
While leaving our hotel at 6 a.m. when it was still dark, Steve noticed a license plate that had the same initials, JOS, as his longtime birding friend, James O. Smith. Jim died last year at the age of 96 and had likely participated in CBCs for at least 60 years.
He and Steve canoed central Illinois on CBCs for decades, and Steve, though not particularly superstitious, thought the license plate number he saw might be some sign from Jim. At the very least, it reminded him of his deceased friend.
Past Lost Mound counts were riddled with snow, ice and cold, just as the Rock Island one in which Wilson participated more than 100 years ago.
But this year, it was nearly 60 degrees for a high. I’ve never been on a CBC in northern Illinois where it’s been that warm. Dressing in layers and slipping on ice during CBCs was just a distant memory this year. It was pleasant, but disconcerting at the same time.
While driving along a road, I noticed a robin-sized bird with a bold, black mask and hooked bill sitting atop a tree. This was a northern shrike, whose numbers are declining. They breed in far northern North America. They’re rarely seen in Illinois, and almost always only in winter. We also counted robins, chickadees, woodpeckers and nuthatches.
At lunch, we met with fellow counters, sharing our shrike story and eating homemade chili, cookies and cornbread. We would have loved to have shared that experience with Jim. But there were two even more exciting CBC memories to come.
Within Lost Mound are thousands of eastern red cedar trees, which attract birds that eat their small blue berries, as well as an owl from the north that roosts in the conifers in winter.
We combed the cedars, searching for whitewash, owl droppings on the trunks of cedars. I took a small right turn into a grove of cedars, and a long, dark, lean bird flew out. It was a long-eared owl, followed by another in flight and then four more.
These are mysterious, enigmatic birds that even the most avid of birders don’t get to see every year in Illinois. The long-eared owls roost in conifers during the day, looking like a piece of bark, and only leave if disturbed. They hunt for food at night.
About an hour or so later, we were driving along the back roads when Steve heard a bright, sweet call. “It sounds like a Townsend’s solitaire,” he said.
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Indeed it was. Townsend’s solitaires live in the western mountains, and make rare appearances in Illinois in winter. The robin-sized bird has a grayish body, buffy wing patches and a bold, white eye ring. As Steve pointed his camera to the tree, another solitaire landed next to the first one, and then another flew in.
We saw three Townsend’s solitaires in one tree. Several different Townsend’s solitaires were discovered at other CBCs in Illinois this year, but not three in one place.
Ornithologists may question why so many solitaires showed up at some CBCs in Illinois this year, and they may likely look at past data to see if there are any trends. Apart from making memories, this is why we count the birds, to contribute to science.
Data from CBCs across the nation, in fact, have been used to examine population trends of bird species. For example, in 2006 and 2007, an analysis of CBC and breeding bird survey data showed that 20 of the most common birds in the continental United States and southern Canada had decreased by more than 50% over the past 40 years.
The birds we document during the CBC period, held from mid-December to early January, will contribute to the database and shed light on population changes of birds over the years.
What will someone discover at the Lost Mound bird count 100 years from now? The hope is that there still will be birds to be counted, and that their appearance will still be magical to those who hear and see them.
Sheryl DeVore has worked as a full-time and freelance reporter, editor and photographer for the Chicago Tribune and its subsidiaries. She’s the author of several books on nature and the environment. Send story ideas and thoughts to sheryldevorewriter@gmail.com.