Ducks, Canada geese, cardinals and more abound in Christmas bird count

Nine volunteers used their eyes, ears and experience Tuesday to count birds around Poplar Bluff as they took part in the annual Christmas Bird Count.

Volunteers were divided into five teams, each working a segment of a 15-mile diameter circle centered in Poplar Bluff.

“The survey of the 177 square miles enclosed in the 15-mile diameter circle was pretty thorough, considering the COVID restrictions limiting participant interaction,” said count compiler Bruce Beck.

Steve Paes and Cindy Bridges, both experienced birders, focused on the northern section of the circle, starting first at McLane Park and then moving to the Lake Loch Loma area.

A small group of Canada geese swim on Lake Loch Loma during Tuesday’s Christmas Bird Count.DAR/Paul Davis

There, they found Canada geese, lesser scaup, a ruddy duck and ringneck ducks on the lake.

Bridges, who’s been participating in the local Christmas Bird Count for about 10 years, said “I just love birds, and it’s something in the middle of winter to kind of break up the bird monotony between the spring and fall migrations.”

A house sparrow is one of 67 species seen during Tuesday’s Christmas Bird Count, which covered 177 square miles around Poplar Bluff.DAR/Paul Davis

Paes hasn’t been birding as long, having volunteered for the count the last six or so years.

“I started doing it to learn more about birding, and the way to learn is to bird with people who are better than you,” Paes said as he surveyed a nearby tree line with his binoculars.

“Another reason to do this is the hope of seeing something unusual,” Paes said.

With several groups out, he said, if one saw a unique species, each of the others would head that direction just to see it.

“They’ll put the word out, and everybody will go there,” he said.

This year’s count, Beck said, was typical of most years.

“We had 67 species, which is pretty normal. That’s not bad for the few people we had,” Beck said.

The highest number of bird species counted in the past, he said, was 73 or 74.

“The number of birds was down from past years. Perhaps the delay in cold weather this year failed to drive our normal winter residents down from the north,” Beck said. “But, the long-term trend in lower numbers of birds continues.”

The number of locally-seen “cardinals, bluebirds, robins, blue jays, starlings, juncos, and white-throated, song and house sparrows are constant,” Beck reported. “Numbers of Canada geese, ruddy ducks, northern shovelers, ring-necked ducks, gadwalls, hooded mergansers and pied-billed grebes were healthy.”

Beck now will report the local count results to the National Audubon Society, which uses the data to chart long-term trends in bird populations.

Two additional Christmas Bird Count events are coming up in Southeast Missouri

A count will be held Thursday at Big Oak Tree State Park near East Prairie, and another will be conducted Friday in the Big Spring area at Van Buren.