Snow Buntings highlight Ocracoke Christmas Bird Count

By Peter Vankevich

In the predawn of Dec. 30, several vehicles pulled into the Variety Store parking lot. With a few brief conversations and the handing out of some sheets, the folks got back into their vehicles and drove off to various parts of Ocracoke Island.

These were volunteers for the Ocracoke Christmas Bird Count and the sheets had a checklist of birds they may encounter.

The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is the oldest sustained wildlife census in North America. It started on Christmas Day in 1900 as an alternative to hunting during the holiday events. Typically back then, family and friends would gather for a large Christmas Hunt, bringing in whatever they could as a sort of competition.

An ornithologist, Frank M. Chapman, suggested to his friends that instead of hunting birds, they should count them and see who could find the most.

Ranging from Ontario to California, 25 bird counts took place that first year, and it has grown every year. Last year, there were a total of 2,261 counts worldwide. Ocracoke joined the other counts in 1981 and braving harsh weather, hurricane destruction and a viral epidemic, has continued every year.

Ocracoke’s neighbor to the south, Portsmouth Island, began a CBC in 1988 and only three times thereafter has not been able to run due to severe weather or, as was the case this year, a transportation problem of getting the participants to the island. Many of the volunteers do both counts, which normally run on the last two days of the year.

The weather for Dec. 30 was seasonal for Ocracoke, sunny, 45 to 50 degrees and a sustained westerly wind of 12-20 mph.

Several teams spread out covering the village, Springer’s Point, the South Point and its road, the pony pasture and along the entire beach. Others in the village reported birds seen in their yards and neighborhoods. Waterman Wade Austin reported flocks of Northern Pintail and Lesser Scaup along with several other species in the Pamlico Sound.

The birds observed vary from year to year with a mix of the common wintering species and the occasional rare bird. Over these many years the combined total of species reported is 179 birds. This year, the highlight was two Snow Buntings flittering from the dunes to the beach and back again.

Snow Buntings have the distinction of being the world’s most northern land bird. Circumpolar, they nest in the high latitudes of the Arctic tundra. Their primary North American wintering range is Canada and the upper areas of the United States. Some will show up on the Outer Banks in small numbers from mid-fall into winter, rarely on Ocracoke.

These bird counts attract a lot of loyal participants — some year-round birders like to describe it as their Super Bowl. For them it’s more than just counting birds.

“Each year I look forward to the Audubon Christmas Bird Counts for Ocracoke and Portsmouth Islands,” said Denny Dobbin who has houses on Ocracoke and in Chapel Hill. “I enjoy the camaraderie of fellow birders that turn out each year. It feels like an annual gathering of old friends.”

There is a social side to many of these counts. After the Ocracoke and Portsmouth counts are concluded, there is a “tally rally” for the participants and their families and friends at the compiler’s home. This one is noted for vegetarian chili and key lime pie, among other delicacies. As the birds vary from year to year, the potluck contributions will make the table varied and interesting with dishes like local clam chowder, Scottish short breads and quiche Lorraine.

Janeen Vanhooke, who grew up in Hillsborough and now lives in Framingham, Massachusetts, learned about the bird counts in 2016.

“I was watching Yellow-rumped Warblers in the Widgeon Woods area of the island from my car and this fellow [the compiler] walked up and asked if we were birders,” she said. “When I said yes, he invited us to join the count the following day.

“Although I was scheduled to leave the next day, I headed over to Ocracoke Island Realty to extend the stay for a few days. I loved doing the count and the tally rally social event. So I’ve been coming ever since except for the Hurricane Dorian year and the pandemic.”

Her coverage assignment is primarily along South Point Road, which she does with islander Karen Rhodes, who walks this route daily.

Jeff Beane, collections manager for herpetology at the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences, opted to do this count in 1998 and has done every Ocracoke and Portsmouth count ever since. The first of each year he publishes a list of fauna he observes on his year-end visit that also includes trips to the Pea Island and Alligator River wildlife refuges and the Mattamuskeet/Pocosin lakes areas. In addition to bird species, he includes his two passions: reptiles and amphibians along with mammals.

Haven Wiley, professor emeritus of UNC Chapel Hill and his wife Minna, returned to do the count after an absence of two years.

“I taught avian biology for 40 years and now that I’m retired, we enjoy doing these counts,” he said. “The stiff southwest wind kept the sparrows hunkered down. The most interesting bird we saw was a Sora, not an uncommon rail, but hard to see.”

Counting the number of birds per species runs from easy for Bald Eagles, 5, and Belted Kingfishers, 14, to daunting for Double-crested Cormorants, estimated at 40,000 and Yellow-rumped Warblers, 1,031.

The high number of cormorants in eastern North Carolina is linked to the spawning of Atlantic menhaden.

Yellow-rumped warblers, unlike their insect-eating warbler cousins, thrive on the plentiful wax myrtle, cedar and bay berries on the island. The subspecies here is appropriately named the Myrtle Warbler.

Looking at the online count data, one would see that the ubiquitous summer Laughing Gull doesn’t like cold winter. They leisurely migrate south in fall. Only one was reported in this year’s count, which is typical.

There is a provision in tallying Christmas Bird Counts: that species observed three days of each side of the official count date may be listed as a “Count Week” bird.

One rarity making the list on the last eligible day was a Dovekie seen by Jeff Beane and Lloyd Lewis in Silver Lake harbor. Dovekies have had an amazing presence this winter in North Carolina. Normally seen in small numbers well off the coast, which is in the southern wintering range, hundreds have been counted in the state, including several on Ocracoke.

The unofficial tally for this year’s count is 89 species, up from last year’s 80 species. In 2021, total species numbered 87. The two new birds seen this year to bring the historical count total up to 179 were the Snow Bunting and a Black-and-White Warbler.

The tentative schedule for this year’s counts are Portsmouth Island Dec. 30 and Ocracoke on Dec. 31.

To read more about previous Christmas Bird Counts and profiles on the Birds of Ocracoke:

Portsmouth and Ocracoke Christmas Bird Counts shed light on birds present in winter
Red Knots and Northern Gannets highlight the Ocracoke Christmas Bird Count

BIRDS OF OCRACOKE SERIES

Peter Vankevich is the compiler of both the Ocracoke and Portsmouth island Christmas Birds Counts.