CBC or Non-winter hiking with a few birds.

[Puck]

The first ever AMC sponsered Audubon Christmas Bird Count was held in Crawford Notch on Sat Dec 17. Participants were AMC naturalist, Members of the Forest Service both active and retired and us common folk. One group went to Mt Tom, on up to the Mizpah hut and I lead a small group on the Webster-Jackson loop.

Jessbee, my wife and I had about a foot of snow in the col and around webster there were drifts over two feet. We broke trail, contended with some blowdowns. It was all loose snow. There were no birds to speak of. All of the usual were not to be seen. It was slow going at first because we were birding and not hiking. We hoped to get some gray jays on the summit of Jackson. We need to brace ourselves for the winds. the Washington observatory was prediciting gusts up to 70 mph. I had hoped that the jays would be in the sheltered col between webster and jackson....nothing. The other parties had more to show for thier efforts. we had 17 species and two 4k peaks bagged. The group to Mizpah had a pine martin. We had to get our thrill from a mammal because the birds deserted us that day.

ALl in all it was a nice hike. We had a reception at the HC to swap stories and compile our sightings. We are off to great start.

 

[Double Bow]

Sorry to hear that your birding activities were not successful. Still, it sounds like you had a great time and that's what's important!

 

[Puck]

Sorry to hear that your birding activities were not successful. Still, it sounds like you had a great time and that's what's important!

Well no data is still data. I heard other counts in Northern NH had lower then normal results. It is an off year for the cone crop. Should have a great count next year.

 

[jessbee]

Yes... it was a good hike nonetheless and a phenomenal workout, thanks Puck for providing the info. I bet the next non-official birding hike you do will be full of birds