Counting all Birds at Fort Belvoir
By Susan Jewell
The birders are part of the longest running wildlife survey in the world, the 104th annual Christmas Bird Count. According to the National Audubon Society, a century ago, people customarily went hunting on Christmas Day in a game called the Christmas Side Hunt. They split into teams and the one that returned with the largest pile of furred or feathered creatures won. A conservation-minded ornithologist named Frank Chapman, an officer of the Audubon Society, proposed counting birds instead. In 1900, he organized 27 people in the U.S. and Canada to count birds in 25 different areas. They tallied 90 species and 18,500 birds. One hundred years later, a volunteer force of 52,451 people completed 1,823 counts across North America. So many areas are censused now that they can occur any day within a three-week period around Christmas, this year spanning Dec. 14 to Jan. 5.
The Fort Belvoir count area in southern Fairfax County includes such diverse habitats as bays, coves, and marshes along the Potomac River, as well as inland meadows, swamps, and woods. More than 250 species of birds have been recorded on the 8,656-acre post in the past. Since the base is a high security area, birders rarely have a chance to set foot on the property, but the day of the bird count is different. John Pilcicki, a biologist who is under contract to run the environmental programs on the base, said, "Our contract with the Army includes the Christmas Bird Count, which we can't accomplish without local volunteer birders." All participants abided by the Code Orange security procedures to enter the visitors' gate.
At sunrise, the teams spread to their assigned areas. The largest area covered the community around the hospital, south of Pence Gate. The smallest was the undeveloped woods just west of Accotink Bay. Some groups spent the day driving slowly along the streets, windows open, listening for telltale cheeps and watching for flitting shadows. When they saw or heard one, they yelped, the car stopped, and everyone piled out, anxious to name it first. Other teams, like the one that covers Pohick Bay, spent most of the day walking through the woods, ears perked and eyes aimed high. By the end of the day, the groups spotted 117 species, including bald eagles, tundra swans, cedar waxwings, and white-throated sparrows. The highlight was a pair of Harris' hawks, a species usually found no farther east than Texas.
The intrepid band of birders lingered until the last rays of sun faded. Time to go home? Not for some. They still had to search for owls.
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