Snipe seen on Christmas Count

This may seem like a strange season to be going on a "snipe hunt," but during last week's Sisters Audubon/ECBC Christmas Bird Count, it fit; a sure-as-you're-born Wilson Snipe popped up.

Yours truly and more than 30 other birders teamed up a little before dawn at the Papandrea's Pizza parking area on Saturday morning, December 23, for a full day of birding. After about a half hour of milling around hand-shaking and meeting each other with happy greetings, we were given our area assignments and went off into the wilds of Sisters to count every bird we saw within a 10-mile circle, except of course domestic fowl.

It cost everyone $5 a pop to take advantage of this annual gathering to help defray the expenses of tallying up birds counted all over the USA.

Although it rained all day - as if Wychus Creek waterfall had been transplanted - the count was fruitful, and everyone had a great time. Birders, in general, are a hardy lot and slow to discourage even in the worst weather. I can recall doing a count in Bend one year at 16 degrees below zero and suddenly the discomfort of the bone-chilling cold was forgotten when my group discovered over 12 Mountain Bluebirds taking shelter in one nesting box.

As you would expect, over 1,100 robins showed up on the list, which didn't surprise anyone. With all the berries hanging from juniper trees throughout Central Oregon, robins would find it impossible to go hungry. One year we had over 10,000 of them down from Canada feasting on berries around Sisters all winter.

Robins do need lots of water to digest the berries, otherwise they get smashed on the fermenting berries in their crops and end up running into trees, windows, each other and generally conducting themselves in an un-robin-like manner.

Here is what East Cascade Bird Conservancy members tallied up for the Sisters Christmas Bird Count this year:

The total figure was down from two years ago; this year came to 5,578, while in 2004, 14,562 birds were counted. To compensate for the vast difference in numbers, the number of species was an encouraging high: a total 68, ranging from one unusual sighting of a Pied Grebe to 677 Canada Geese, 154 Ring-necked Ducks to 7 Rough-legged Hawks (down from the Arctic Circle), 160 flickers, 1,171 Varied Thrush and 67 American Goldfinch.

Our resident Rufous and Allen's hummingbirds that nest with us in summer are buzzing around the Mexican and Baja countryside enjoying the insects and flowers of those areas in winter. Occasionally, however, for some strange reason, a few hummingbirds will remain here for the winter, like one tiny Costa's hummingbird seen on the Bend count this year.

Hummingbirds, like whippoorwills, have the ability to drop into a stupor when the cold becomes unbearable for them. I personally have never seen a hummingbird in that state, but I am told it is as close to death as they can get without their tiny heart stopping.

Bats also do that all winter, slow their heartbeat and respiration down to the point where they are using only enough energy to keep the Spark of Life going. Unlike hummingbirds and poorwills, however, bats put on a layer of winter fat that fuels their tiny bodies through the months of winter. Hummingbirds, on the other hand, just shut down for two or three days but not much longer to survive an unpleasant cold snap. That's what makes the Costa's hummingbird in Bend unique to find here in the deepest part of winter.

It is always a good idea to bring in hummingbird feeders at the end of fall when most of the little guys have gone through on their way to Mexico and southern California for winter.