Winter is an excellent opportunity for a citizen scientist to enjoy birding in Rockingham County.
While I have not yet made a rare bird sighting this winter, I have been enjoying neighborhood birds, those residents and common visitors that are observable with minimal effort.
I watch the birds that snack at my feeder, those calling from trees along the fencerow and even turkey vultures flying over the yard. Then, there are the water birds—mallards and Canada geese that seem ever-present at the nearby pond. A chorus of quacks and honking greets me through the darkness each night.
A lone gull also flew by one day. When I first saw gulls in the mountains of Virginia, I was concerned. I thought these birds had surely lost their way from the sea. But while on a guided bird walk in southwestern Virginia, I learned that I was watching ring-billed gulls. They are commonly found inland, even over the central United States and Canada. So much for my misconception that all gulls are seagulls!
The Cooks Creek Arboretum on Weeping Willow Lane in Bridgewater is another favorite place to observe neighborhood birds and survey our winter avian life.
I always hear calls of chickadees and doves, but another frequent sound—a pleasant whistle-song, a bit like oh-sweet-canada-canada—was more difficult for me to identify. Knowing she would recognize it, I tried to replicate the sound for Robyn A. Puffenbarger, an associate professor of biology at Bridgewater College. She perfectly whistled back what I had heard and identified it as the song of a white-throated sparrow. This sweet and crisp birdsong has become, like the soft sound of falling snow, one of my favorite winter noises.
American robins are another common resident at Cooks Creek Arboretum. While many people associate robins with spring, some do live here year-round. Another year-round resident is northern cardinal couples, easily spotted in their brilliant red plumage.
I saw Carolina wrens searching for food near the creek on my last arboretum visit. Flocks of European starlings fly overhead.
While these invasive birds are certainly unpopular, I can’t help but enjoy watching flocks of starlings. They change direction at once in a graceful movement that reminds me of swirling water. I also like how these intelligent birds can be taught human words and parrot them in clear voices.
Birding Tips
Locals who want to learn more about birds may be interested in joining the Rockingham Bird Club or the Augusta Bird Club. Both have websites with membership information.
Field guides are a must for an amateur birder. I suggest reviewing the prominent guides and selecting one or two that best meet your needs. I often find inexpensive field guides at used book sales. I enjoy my Golden field guide. My mother likes her Kaufman guide. Of course, the Peterson guides are reliable favorites and there are other excellent guides.
Winter bird watchers may also benefit from one of my favorite bird-related websites, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s www.allaboutbirds.org. This free and easy to use resource includes photographs of birds, details of their characteristics, range maps and recordings of sounds. The information on similar species has been of great help in identifying birds. I also like how common birds are featured first in the search areas.
Bird watchers can volunteer in many local and national study projects. As an amateur birder, I’ve participated in The Great Backyard Bird Count and Audubon Christmas Bird Count. I monitor birds frequently through the Nature’s Notebook program of USA National Phenology Network.
Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology sponsors a free “Celebrate Urban Birds” program. Kids (or really any of us) can learn about and observe common birds in human-made settings. Cornell also offers the Project FeederWatch count for adults. Visit their websites to find out more.
Stephanie Gardner is a Virginia Master Naturalist and special collections librarian at Bridgewater College.
