Survivor: Christmas Bird Count 2008

Sun dog created by ice particles in the atmosphere

The annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count was held in Medora on 12/21 and out of the North Unit on 12/22. Nine volunteers scoured 288 square miles on the two days the best they could. It was tough because temperatures were below 0 until the last couple hours on the second day, with lows approaching -15 degrees F. The extreme cold wasn't just challenging for the surveyors, it kept bird activity to a minimum. Our count numbers were low; the most chickadees in a single sighting was nine at my bird feeder, we had no waxwings of any kind, and our record high of over 1,250 robins last year fell to less than 10 this year. We did manage to find one bald eagle among the swarms of horned larks and abundant grouse and pheasants. But, for the most part, birds were laying low.

Amber and I scored 3 Townsend's solitaires on the (closed) scenic loop drive in the South Unit. Really we saw 4 but the fourth was flying away and I couldn't confirm it. We also found a golden eagle, Northern shrike, and black-billed magpies on the loop.

Elk on the Ridgeline Trail. I was jogging up the trail because I knew I didn't have much time before my extremities started to get frostbite, and I noticed the elk tracks. At the top of the hill, there they were. They disappeared rather quickly.