Bird Watching and "Memoirs of a Farm Boy"

On Saturday, I went birding with the Williamsburg Bird Club. Let me say, first of all, that my new binoculars enhanced the experience tremendously. My Eagle Optics Ranger 10 x 50s were a Christmas gift from my husband. (Thank you, dear.) We watched a variety of birds from hawks to songbirds and I learned so much because I could really see the details! The Club records birds seen on 2nd and 4th Saturdays at New Quarter Park on Cornell Lab's eBird site, in case you want to look it up.

We didn't see many ducks on Queens Creek, however, and this was slightly unusual. After birding for awhile, be began to hear gunshots and eventually picked out the duck hunters' boat sitting next to the marsh at the place we call The Point. (In the center and to the right in this photo.) We saw about a dozen decoys anchored around them. Some of the birders grimiced and shook their heads every time we heard a blast. Poor, poor ducks.

On Sunday I read William H. Turner's book Chesapeake Boyhood: Memoirs of a Farm Boy (Maryland Paperback Bookshelf). It had been loaned to me by my cousin Ralph Anderton from Bohannon (Mathews, Virginia). Ralph grew up in that rural way too, and I have heard my birding friend Bill Williams mention a similar attachment to the land rooted in his childhood exploits. As boys, these men hunted and fished because that was what you did. Through hunting and fishing they grew to appreciate wildlife and the natural environment. I highly recommend this book to all who care about Virginia's natural history and Virginian's attachment to it. I hope some of my birding friends will read it so that they may develop greater empathy.

My favorite chapter was "Farm Life:"

"When I was growing up in the 1930s and 1940s, farm life on the subsistence level in Virginia revolved around certain routines ... There was little planning or expectation, but this does not mean to imply any monotony, shortsightedness, or boredom. To the contrary, we lived exciting and wholesome lives...

"One of the biggest jobs we had was pulling weeds and hoeing. No herbicides were ever used, and there were significantly fewer weeds than you have now. Somehow I think that the weeds have become immune to poison ... their immunity is keeping ahead of modern chemistry, and the art of pulling them by hand is lost.

"It was a good, simple, healthy life, enjoyed by young and old. But it is as extinct as the passenger pigeon."

Williamsburg Christmas Bird Count

I enjoyed joining the Jolly Pond Circle crew for the Williamsburg Christmas Bird Count. Left to right: Margaret, Alex, Lee, Sara, Shirley.

Here are clips from a Williamsburg-Yorktown Daily article about the day:

Christmas Bird Count Nets Some Surprises

For 20 years, Bill Williams has been a volunteer bird spotter for the Williamsburg Bird Club. "When I started, I was just in awe of how the experienced birders could spot subtle differences between the birds," he says.

Two decades of doing this will teach you a thing or two. Now, Williams is the official records committee chairman and compiler for the Williamsburg Bird Club's Christmas Bird Count.

This year's 32nd annual count on December 21 saw a few unusual species spotted, but also a reduction in some of the birds that used to be common in the area. Most exciting to Williams is that 53 volunteers, an all-time high, staked out spots in a 15-mile circle, centered at the Colonial Williamsburg Visitors Center.

"Of the 53 participants, we saw 109 species, which is about an average year," Williams says. "There's usually very little change in that number."

... Among the rare finds was a northern gannet, spotted in the York River. Williams says it's the first time the shorebird has ever been spotted during the Christmas bird count. Usually, at this time of year, the gannet's range is far to the south and east of the Historic Triangle.

There were also two short-eared owls spotted in the Hog Island Wildlife Management Area. Williams says it's just the third time they've been spotted during a Christmas count.

... There are far fewer songbirds than there used to be. Williams says the rusty blackbird, which used to be seen in large flocks, have seen their numbers decline all through their range.

... Other species ... have seen numbers edge up. Williams says there were 49 brown pelicans spotted during the Christmas count.