Page 13 - Sentinel February 2018

SKIES Continud from page 12 COUNTING BIRDS IN PERRY PARK
Outdoor lights are relatively cheap these days, so some people Harriet Stratton...
think that more must be better. This is a case where that axiom
just doesn’t hold. Better quality and thoughtful applications are The Douglas County Christmas Bird Count was Saturday, De-
better. Cheap timers and motion detectors allow you to deliver cember 30, 2017. An intrepid team of bird spotters, Mary Kay
light where and when it is needed. A light that goes on with a Waddington, Carolyn Jones, Peggy Gonder, Sue Majeski, and
motion detector gives you more security information and makes Harriet Stratton, dressed for winter and set out to count every
it more difficult for a criminal to check out your house. The bird they could find. They were assigned to cover the Perry Park
objective is to use only the light you need and only when you wedge of a 15-mile radius Douglas County count circle. The
need it. How many times have I had to tell the kids to turn out National Audubon Society has been Christmas Bird Counting
the lights when they leave the room? for 118 years and has created a substantial data base of winter
birds in all habitats across the country. Thanks go to hundreds
Finally, I was surprised to find out that the color of the outdoor of volunteer citizen scientists. CBC organizer Nancy Crews had
lights is important. The new LED lights are cheap and come in 12 additional teams counting in adjacent segments of the Doug-
a variety of color temperatures. The yellow tinted lights cause las County circle.
less damage than the blue lights. The color of lights is measured
in degrees Kelvin, and 3000 K and below lights cause less dis- It was a breezy 16 degrees when we met at 8 a.m. on Dakin
tress to animals and less sky-glow. Road. We gathered at the West Plum Creek bridge to look and
listen. What seems in the first moments to be a cold quiet land-
I was inspired to write this article for the Sentinel because I like scape begins to wake. Robins are the first to call. Then Carolyn
to be able to step out my door and see the awesome night sky. tallies several Evening Grosbeak watering in the running creek.
Apparently other people value that opportunity as well, just as Not far up South Plum Creek Meadows Road we spot a single
they value the open space, wildlife, trees and rocks that we are Golden Eagle in a rarely seen situation. Perched on a low hill
blessed with here in Perry Park. I hope that by using outdoor and hunched over a fresh killed breakfast, it looked at first like
lighting smartly we can preserve our dark night skies and keep a large dog.
some of the urban sky glow well away from our homes.
Our drive up Dakin Road to the edge of Pike National For-
est was beautiful but uneventful bird wise, and afterward we
were ready for a soup break in Echo Village where watching
and counting birds at the feeder and raptors in the trees proved
productive; Pine Siskin, Goldfinch, and Woodpeckers at close
range, Red-tailed Hawks and Rough-legged Hawks through the
scope.

Warmed and now enjoying a 60-degree afternoon, we continued
the search around Perry Park. We missed seeing wild turkeys
this year but counted ducks and geese, sparrows and juncos on
our walk through Morgan Paulk’s private section of Bear Creek
at the end of Perry Park Blvd.

We reluctantly quit birding at 3:30 to deliver our numbers to
Douglas County count headquarters in Roxborough Park, there
‘Twas the day after Christmas or an alternate title, “Build to be tallied with the results of the other Douglas County teams.
it and they will come”: A community hockey game De- It’s fun to swap bird observations and stories with the other
cember 26 at Perry Park Ranch’s Gateway Pond. volunteers over chili supper and potluck dessert, and then drive
Photo by Hannah Tenneson home contentedly looking forward to CBC 2018.

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Perry Park Sentinel February 2018 - Page 13