by Don Jones
Troy held its Christmas Bird count on Saturday December 31st 2016. Weather started off clear and cold (6 degrees) and ended with mostly cloudy (26 degrees). We had 23 Field participants and 5 feeder watchers. Species count matched last year at 48 species for count day and 3 for count week (Cedar Waxwing, Townsends Solitaire & Merlin). Numbers were down especially in the outer areas where even the feeders were quite. Chickadee Numbers were reporting low within and outside the count area all winter. Most unusual bird was the Varied Thrush, not that we had one but in that we had 38. Just about anywhere you had a Crab apple or Apple tree you could find a Varied Thrush. We had one Crab Apple that had 12 individuals in it. The 3 hours of Owling didn’t produce one Bird but you can’t beat being out there on a cold clear night checking out fresh Lynx and wolf tracks in the powdery snow.
Are participation continues to grow and the mean age is dropping – great sign, nothing like young eyes and ears… Thank you all who participated, the potluck at our house was fun as usual as was our group breakfast.