For the birds: Dan River Region counts feathered friends

“Oh, look! It’s a harrier!”

And the afternoon session of the annual Christmas Bird Count was on.

After spending all day Saturday — from 6:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. — helping with the Danville bird count for the Audubon Society, Mary Foster had also gotten an early start Sunday, counting birds and bird species in Pittsylvania County. The harrier, the largest hawk generally seen in this region, was an exciting find.

“Wow! I’ve seen them at the coast, but not inland like this!” Dennis Burnette responded.

Dennis and Lynn Burnette, of Greensboro, N.C., and members of the T. Gilbert Pearson Chapter of the Audubon Society, joined Foster in tackling her share of the Pittsylvania County “bird circle” — a 15-mile diameter circle drawn from a chosen starting point, in this case the Pittsylvania County Courthouse; the area needs to be covered in one day. Dennis Burnette said such assistance is common in bird aficionado circles.

Fowler and the Burnettes were covering area around and including the White Oak Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Blairs, while other members of the Southside Bird Club traveled through other sections of the county.

The Audubon Society has conducted this count throughout the country for 112 years; the count has grown so that it is now an international event that takes place every December. Local bird club members — what the Audubon Society calls “citizen scientists” — travel through a specific area, writing down the names of every bird species they see and how many of them they see.

The Southside Bird Club, a fairly new club that doesn’t have the budget to participate in the Audubon Society count, which charges $5 for each count sheet submitted, instead submits their counts to the Virginia Society of Ornithology.

“They are encouraging us to participate with Audubon,” Foster admitted. But, she added, the Virginia Society of Ornithology does use the information submitted in much the same way as the Audubon Society.

“It’s not a true census; there’s no way to count every bird in a given area — they hide too well,” Dennis Burnette said. Over time, however, certain trends can be spotted and corrective action taken, he said.

If, for instance, you see dozens of a certain species every year and it suddenly drops off — either in reduced numbers or completely disappearing — the clubs can work to find out why the bird has moved on or died off. If habitat has changed due to development, the club might work toward having an appropriate area set aside and left undeveloped so the birds will return. Basically, the data is used to assess bird health and to guide conservation activity.

Foster said she saw 49 different species of birds during her day in Danville, and didn’t have a total for Pittsylvania County in time for publication, but there seemed to be a lot of different types of birds in the two hours the Register & Bee spent with the group.

Five enormous turkey vultures circled overhead, looking for carrion. Dennis Burnette said those birds get a bad rap.

“We appreciate them; otherwise, you’d see dead stuff all over the place,” he said. And, sure enough, they found a dead opossum in the road and waited patiently for us to leave so they could enjoy their snack.

Other birds spotted included a female kestrel, sparrows, one meadowlark, blue birds, house finches, Carolina wrens, a tufted titmouse, a phoebe, a robin, a male cardinal, American crows and a red-tailed hawk. Foster thought she spotted a golden-crowned kinglet, but since she could not be certain, it could not be included in the count.

There were some differences in the areas she covered Saturday and Sunday. Her Danville walk along the river included seeing a great blue heron, hooded mergansers, an American coot, Canada geese and mallards; as of 2 p.m. on Sunday, none of those had been seen in the Blairs area Foster’s group was covering.

Overall, the group said they had a wonderful day with fairly mild weather, beautiful scenery and the chance of spotting rare birds.