Eagle-eyed Audubon Society holding annual bird count Fun event also an exercise in 'citizen science'

MOSES LAKE — If you see a bunch of people standing around with binoculars this weekend, you might want to pause a minute before calling the police to report a bunch of Peeping Toms.

Odds are far better that it's members of the Central Basin Audubon Society instead, out for the annual Christmas bird count, during which they collect information about the area's feathered residents.

"It's been going on for over 100 years," said CBAS conservation chair Teri Pieper of the national Audubon Society's bird count, which started around the turn of the 1900s. The Moses Lake count has been taking place for about 12 years, she estimated. "The idea is to count as many birds as possible at any given location at about the same time to get kind of a snap shot of how many birds there are."

The count shows migratory patterns, Pieper said, as well as species that might be in decline or doing very well.

"It's a really good example of citizen science, or the collection of data that is considered very important to scientists," she said.

CBAS president Margaret Schiffner said that the information gives national bird counters an idea of "what is in this area at this particular time of year."

Sometimes, a pattern will emerge, be it over in one setting or over a number of counts. For example, Pieper said, last year the number of mallards was down.

"A trend might show up and prompt someone to investigate," she said.

Doug Schonewald, field trip chair and Christmas bird count compiler, said no one has researched the reason mallard numbers were down last year, because numbers are stable across the birds' breeding area, just low in the Moses Lake area.

"Anything I could forge would be a hypothesis," he said.

Somewhere between 13 and 20 people typically turn up for the bird count, which Schonewald has been participating in for the last four years, he said.

"It's a fun day, valuable science and it's as much a social event as it is a science event," he said.

The local bird count covers a circle 15 miles in diameter around Moses Lake, Schonewald said, and the different species of birds typically number between 70 and 80.

"Primarily waterfowl, but we have a lot of passerine — small land birds, songbirds, robins and sparrows," he explained, adding that some of the different birds that turn up are typically more unusual to the area than they are state or national rarities.

"It's a fun thing, (you) get to know more about the environment, why people like us are encouraged to understand bird life and just hopefully to show support for wildlife and its habitat," Schiffner said.

Pieper echoed Schiffner's assertion of the fun of the event.

"You might learn something, find you like birding, learn about the community, meet some nice people you like," she said.

The Christmas bird count will kick off Saturday at 7 a.m. at Schonewald's home. Call 509-766-0056 for more information.