EAST MEETS WEST AT MASHKIONONJE

At the North Bay Christmas Bird Count, Dick and Cal encouraged me to organize a Christmas Bird Count in my area. Afterwards Dick gave me all the information to register and Cal made sure my circle was perfect!!! The first ever Mashkinonje Christmas Bird Count was hatched. Since the circle was in Nipissing and Sudbury Districts, we were lucky to have bird watching enthusiasts from both areas. Seven of the fourteen field observers were Nipissing Naturalists; Dick, Cal, Stephen, Sue, Natalie, Gary and I. Chris and Joan Bell came from the Sudbury Ornithological Society, Randy Moratz and his daughter Teegan from the Sudbury Naturalists, and from Ontario Parks- Chuck Miller Superintendent of the Mashkinonje Provincial Park (and a few other smaller parks, Killarney and French River) his wife Karen and Melanie Alkins. I didn't know how to count Melanie, she is a Nipissing Naturalist working in Sudbury for Ontario Parks. We had three park guides Liz and Harley (historian, from the pontoon boat ride) Lang and Dr. Peter Beckett from Laurentian University. In the final tally , we had 17 feeder watchers. I had hesitated asking the feeder watchers to get involved because it was a busy time of year but I was met with enthusiasm. Some feeder watchers wanted to have their friends included too.

There was much discussion at tally up time as to whether we should change our circle to include House Sparrows found by both Sudbury groups. As Dick mentioned at the Nipissing Naturalists General Meeting, there were no House Sparrows in the Sudbury or North Bay Christmas Bird Counts. The discussion was fun and our house was far from quiet. We finally kept our original circle. Chuck had spotted some sparrows in the circle but was unable to identify them. I later found the sparrows to be House Sparrows and I was glad we kept our circle. Through all of this Gary was able to get a nice dinner ready. It is just like when kids are quietly eating, you know they are enjoying their food, so our house settled down. The overwhelming consensus is we do it again next year, dates have even been suggested.

I would like to make mention of the Great Blue Heron that we managed to get in our Christmas Bird Count- week. The Great Blue Heron was seen last by my son David on January 8th at the bridge in Lavigne. I hope it found its' way safely south.

By Angela Martin

Mashkinonje Christmas Bird Count 2002
Jan. 4, 2003