The beauty of the Christmas Bird Count

Counting birds for science is one of the most fulfilling ways to end the year

A horned lark.
(Image credit: United States Fish and Wildlife Service/Flickr)

The ash tree I'm anchored to is laced with poison ivy vines, one as thick as my arm. The childhood adage, don't be a dope, don't touch the rope, is loud in my mind because although I'm no "dope" I'm definitely touching the rope — the ash is the only thing keeping me from falling into the icy creek below.

I embrace the ash with my left arm and through a layer of fresh snow, I dig in and plant myself. With my right hand I bring binoculars to my eyes and scan the plowed cornfield beyond the creek for movement. I'm looking for a flock of Horned Larks, small little brown birds with two tufts of feathers on either side of their head that resemble horns. Against a backdrop of tilled earth they are cryptic but, lucky for me, it snowed last night and not much can stay hidden on the field. My desire to find a flock of larks sprouts from a kernel of hope that a Lapland Longspur might be embedded among them, or maybe a Snow Bunting. Both birds are as exquisite-looking as they sound. The longspur is sparrow-like, but fairer, with a sweet round face. The bunting is white and in its winter plumage its cheeks are decked out in chic buff-colored feathers.

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Orietta Estrada

Orietta Estrada is a bird-centric writer and editor of The Maryland Yellowthroat — a publication of the Maryland Ornithological Society.