Birders tally a changing flock

Christmas count sees dramatic shifts in Wake

RALEIGH -- Nearly 70 years ago, a young N.C. State University graduate student named Thomas Quay joined a small group of avid bird watchers to survey the bird population in Wake County.

On Saturday, the 92-year-old retired N.C. State professor was back in the woods with his binoculars for the Wake Audubon Society's annual Christmas bird count. But the bird population Quay is seeing has changed dramatically as development has forced many species out of Wake.

"As you can imagine, the southern Wake County area we're counting today is not the same as it was in 1937," said John Connors, 55, coordinator of Wake Audubon's Christmas bird count.

More than 70 volunteers combed sites within a 15-mile radius of the N.C. Farmers Market just south of downtown Raleigh. Many of those sites have been used since Raleigh's first Christmas bird count in 1937. Similar events are being held across the country as part of the National Audubon Society's 107th annual Christmas Bird Count.

In Wake, at least 77 species of birds were spotted Saturday. Connors said the target is 100.

Jim Mulholland, another retired N.C. State professor, said that 25 years ago, it was possible to count more than 110 species.

"There are fewer birds now because the land is being filled with condominiums and houses," said Mulholland, 71, who has taken part in the counts for 34 years.

Even in dense woods near Yates Mill Pond Road, Chrissy Pearson couldn't escape the development spreading through the county as she looked for wrens, flickers and other birds.

"You feel so isolated, and then you look up and see homes," said Pearson, the outgoing president of Wake Audubon.

But there are still more than enough birds to bring out enthusiasts of all ages. Quay is the elder statesman of the group; except during his military service during World War II, he said, he has been to every Christmas bird count since 1938.

"They paid me to teach birdwatching," Quay said. "I would have done it for free. Why stop now? I'm healthy enough, and I can still get around."

At the other extreme, 12-year-old Kyle Kittelberger has already done three Christmas bird counts. "A lot of kids my age are into video games," said Kyle, a seventh-grader at Ravenscroft School in Raleigh. "They're not as interactive as me."

In time, he could become as passionate as Pearson. She recently received a phone call about a new bird in the area while having dinner with her in-laws.

"I told them go ahead, I have a bird emergency," Pearson said. "My husband got it. My in-laws, I'm not so sure."

Pearson said there's plenty of room for people with no knowledge of birds to participate. She used to carry her bird guidebook when she started five years ago, but now she leaves it in the car.

With experience, you can become like John Gerwin, bird curator at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.

Gerwin amazed his graduate assistant, Amelia Savage, with his ability to identify birds with one glance or by one note of their call.

But sometimes experience doesn't matter as much as luck. As the group gathered Saturday afternoon in a gas station parking lot to compare notes and lament not having seen a bald eagle, two were spotted flying about a mile away. People rushed back to their cars to retrieve binoculars.

"Maybe we should just stay here in the parking lot to look for the other birds," Connors joked.