FAIR FOR FOWL?

MAT SU — There were 35 people out counting birds during the 31st annual Matanuska Valley Audubon Christmas Bird Count on Dec. 20.

Those hardy souls covered 451.05 miles and, with the help of 13 feeder counters, totaled 73.75 hours of counting time. Counters on foot covered 21.75 miles and 12 miles were racked up by sled dog team.

The work was hampered early in the day when most trees were heavily covered in snow or coated with hoarfrost, making birds difficult to see. But by afternoon, winds up to 30 mph had cleared many of the trees.

With some exceptions, counts for most species were lower than expected. There were 28 species seen on count day and one new species — northern saw-whet owl — was spotted that is new to the local count.

Also, one non-countable exotic species was seen, a female peafowl, found on Lazy Mountain.

New high counts were established for common and Barrow’s goldeneye, bald eagle, common raven, and red-breasted nuthatch. As in the past, ravens were not counted past noon to avoid double-counting. A song sparrow, assumed to be the same one that was counted last year, returned to a feeder in the Butte, making it the only song sparrow recorded in the Upper Cook Inlet for the second year in a row. Bohemian waxwings were scarce with only 60 observed.

BY THE NUMBERS

Audubon Christmas bird count

n Mallard 450

n Common Goldeneye 2 new high — previous 1

n Barrow’s Goldeneye 6 new high — previous 1

n Common Merganser 2

n Peafowl (female) 1 exotic/not countable

n Ruffed Grouse 1

n Spruce Grouse 1

n Bald Eagle adult - 57 - 38 seen at Palmer Landfill

n Bad Eagle immature - 14 - 12 seen at Palmer Landfill

n Gyrfalcon 1

n Rock Pigeon 137

n Northern Hawk Owl 2

n Short-eared Owl 1

n Northern Saw-whet Owl - Record for species

n Downy Woodpecker 25

n Hairy Woodpecker 23

n Northern Shrike 3

n Gray Jay 5

n Black-billed Magpie 137

n Common Raven 979 new high — previous 807

n Black-capped Chickadee 639

n Boreal Chickadee 3

n Red-breasted Nuthatch 52 new high — previous 47

n American Dipper 7

n European Starling 106 - 72 seen at Palmer Landfill

n Bohemian Waxwing 60

n Song Sparrow 1

n White-crowned Sparrow 3

n Dark-eyed Junco 5

n Pine Grosbeak 15

n Common Redpoll 68

Species seen on count day 28

Birds seen on count day 2,805