Ah, the sounds of Christmas: carolers at the door, a crackling fire, the rip of wrapping paper and ... the sharp chirp of the yellow-rumped warbler.
Ornithologists fanned out with military precision throughout the East Bay on Sunday for the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. The tradition, started 113 years ago as an alternative to holiday bird shoots, puts bird lovers worldwide in the role of citizen scientists to collect vital data used by researchers to monitor climate change. Last winter during the two weeks near Christmas, more than 63,000 volunteers counted birds in 2,200 places around the globe.
Alameda birders gathered at dawn, armed with high-powered bird-spotting telescopes that cost more than a used car, "The Sibley Guide to Birds" and much adrenaline. They trekked along the shoreline, at the Least Tern sanctuary at the shuttered Alameda Naval Air Station, and near residential lagoons to peer over the water and into the trees.
"Is that a long-billed curlew?" Kim Wallace said as she bent over her scope at the Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary along the Alameda mudflats.
"A curlew! Hot shoot!" said Leah Norwood, running to her tripod-mounted scope to confirm the sighting.
Ideal spot for birders
Most curlews, like many of the shorebirds seen in California during winter, migrate from colder Arctic climates, making the Bay Area an ideal spot for bird watching.
The mudflats were so busy with flitting white sandpipers, it was impossible to count them all. The group estimated there were 2,000 Western sandpipers and 3,500 Dunlin sandpipers.
Diversity matters most
The birders cheered at spotting the snowy plover, a federally threatened species, and later, a black-crowned night heron in a tree near the Broadway Street Lagoon.
Diversity is more important than a high count because rare sightings indicate good Earth stewardship, said Leora Feeney, who has been organizing Alameda's Audubon bird counters since 1975.
The bird that is disappearing fastest from count lists in the East Bay, according to data analyzed by Bob Lewis of the Golden Gate Audubon Society, is the white-winged scoter. Christmas counters have noted a 95 percent decline in white-winged scoter sightings since 1974.
On the flip side, the common raven is the most prolific. It has seen a 1,258 percent increase over the same time period. One theory is that there are now 40 percent more humans in Alameda, which means more garbage - a buffet ravens find irresistible.
Right behind the common raven, the red-shouldered hawk increased by 978 percent, with sightings jumping from three hawks to 29.
Starling most common
The most common East Bay bird, by far, is the European starling - with more than 6,000 sightings since 1974. It's an invasive bird that draws grumblings from birders who take issue with its survival strategy - bullying other birds out of their nests and then taking the homes for themselves.
Everything that can be spotted in one day must be counted - even the rows of pigeons lined up on a telephone wire, which were completely ignoring a plastic barn owl secured to the pole. Or the multitudes of Canada geese lazily marching over a school soccer field, nipping at the soggy grass.
Excuse to get outdoors
It's a high point in the year for Audubon Christmas counter John Luther, who has logged 16,000 different birds in all 58 California counties over the past half century. The avian-obsessed are not unlike those who chase storms, he said.
"Bird watching is a great excuse to get outdoors and explore California," said the retired biology teacher. "I love trying to find rare birds. I'll get up at 2 a.m. and drive to San Diego if I hear of a new bird spotted there, and not even think twice."
-- For Audubon Christmas Bird Count historical data, visit sfg.ly/T0LnZj.