By Stowell P. Watters
Staff Writer
The gold-colored van, license plate reading “WOOD DK,” rolls down a side street near Gooch’s Beach – Kennebunk – as three avid birders take shelter from the drizzle and the fog during Maine Audubon’s 48th Christmas Bird Count. They ride with their windows wide open, bundled in thick hats, coats and galoshes – the passengers’ eyes sealed to pairs of Swarovski binoculars.
Suddenly, Joanne Stevens’ eyes widen as she pulls back the heavy optics from her face and cocks her head.
“Wait! Wait! Wait! Stop!” Stevens says, prompting a swift pull-over as the three ladies alight like birds themselves – quickly out of the van – to stand peering into a thicket of phragmites.
“A Downy!” Stevens proclaims, verifying the first sighting of a Downy Woodpecker in the foggy morning. The bird latches onto a phragmite stalk and gives it a solid peck, snapping it in half to the amusement of the birders. “Phragmites are gross, invasive plants,” Stevens says.
The Christmas Count is an annual event in which, the Maine Audubon society estimates, 50,000 people at 1,500 locations throughout the nation group up to count and record the various bird species and populations. In Maine, each team of volunteer birders is assigned a 15-mile diameter coverage circle that is roughly 177 square miles. While they record every bird they see the Audubon is able to compile this data and notice what southern Maine count coordinator Marie Jordan calls “relative trends.”
“This isn’t an exact science; you see a flock over head and give it the best count you can. What we are looking for is a relative trend in bird populations,” Jordan says.
During the last few Christmas Counts Jordan and her southern Maine cohorts have been noticing a decline in the amount of Evening Grosbeaks. That bird, distinguishable from the more common American Goldfinch by its strong, triangular beak, has been visiting Maine less because of a decline in Spruce Bud Worms – their main food source.    
“Through one decline in population you see another and we are given, through these counts, a good picture of the changing natural world around us,” Jordan says.
The counts are completed in the spirit of conservation and interest, Jordan says, but this was not always the case. In fact, the Audubon estimates the Christmas count first originated in 1990 as a response to an annual American tradition where hunters, having finished their holiday affairs, would go out and see how many birds they could shoot throughout the nation. The Audubon maintains a legend in which a noble and nameless conservationist approached the hunters and suggested counting these birds instead of hunting them, and the idea stuck.
On Dec. 29, 32 birders in eight groups fan out across southern Maine to count the birds. Jordan, Lewis and Joanne Stevens’ group covers the area from Saco (on the northern edge) to Parson’s Beach, Kennebunk (on the southern edge) and from Goodwin Mills (on the western edge) to the sea. They see and hear birds by the ocean: Loons, Horned Grebes, White-winged Scoters, Gulls and even an American Bald Eagle. They see and hear birds inland: Mockingbirds, White-throated Sparrows, Cardinals, Jays, Finches, a Carolina Wren and many of what Stevens calls “LBJs.”
“An LBJ, you know, little brown job, one of those common birds that, if you just take the GISS of, you tend to overlook,” Stevens says.
The GISS, the three ladies explain, stands for ‘general information based on sight and sound.’ Because each of them has more than 10 years of birding experience, they are able to list birds by seeing or hearing them.  Lewis is one of the birders with Jordan.
“We love birding, the more you do it the more you realize just how many different species there are,” Lewis says.
To make sure, the pack carries around a plethora of field identification guides. Sibley’s, Peterson’s, The Audubon’s and National Geographic’s field guides all make the cut.
“You need a variety: we have an arsenal,” Jordan says.
Because of the fog and the drizzle the ladies say they are anticipating a low total, birds – apparently – also dislike the poor weather. As they peer through professional-grade optics – Jordan’s Swarovski scope, she estimates, cost her a total of $2,000 – underneath WOOD DK’s open trunk their spirits are dauntless.
“We will be out here until dark, that is the best thing about this event, it gives us a reason to get outside in the wintertime,” Lewis says, zipping up her raincoat.
At the end of the day the groups all meet up at the Church on the Cape in Cape Porpoise for a potluck dinner and to share their findings. As a birder reads from a list of possible sightings the groups take turns saying whether or not they made a positive identification.
“This year,” says Chuck Barnes, whose group covers the Kennebunkport area, “My group will be raising our hand when they call off the Barred Owl.”
The bird is a rare one, Barnes says, a coveted sighting during these Christmas Counts. It sits on a branch outside the Kennebunkport home of Lass Billings. Inside the home, next to a stoked fire, Billings watches the owl she says.
“It comes back every year, it has beautiful brown eyes,” Lass says. In fact, the Audubon claims the Barred Owl is the only typical American owl with brown eyes. It was once an Old Forest dwelling bird, but more and more Christmas Counts show this owl in suburban neighborhoods.
A Christmas Count is any bird count done between the dates of Dec. 14 through Jan. 5, so the final results for southern Maine are not available until after the publication of this article. To view them, Jordan says, visit the Maine Audubon’s Web site www.maineaudubon.org anytime after Jan. 5.
A totaled 9,860 birds were counted, down 2,000 from last year’s count. Jordan reports to the group at the potluck there were three Evening Grosbeak sightings – one of these recorded by Barnes’ group.
“It is so exciting, I had never seen one in my life and I am 50. It is a hit or miss bird now when it used to be so plentiful,” says Barnes, whose group catalogued 45 different species during the event.
To contact Stowell P. Watters, call 282-4337, ext. or email news@kennebunkpost.com.