Jim Woods and Ben Sonnenberg go over a map at Whit Hall on Sunday for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count.
Photo by Kurt Hildebrand.
Not quite a score of birdwatchers braved the wind and rain to participate in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count around dawn on Sunday at the River Fork Ranch Preserve.
Reno resident Joe Tuvell said this was his second Minden bird count, but that he usually went to Carson and that he’d been to more Christmas bird counts than he could count.
Valley resident Sandy Jonkey said she went out last year with a family from the Bay Area and Tahoe.
“They had been to bird counts everywhere,” she told coordinator Ben Sonnenberg. “They were fun. I drove.”
This year Sonnenberg paired her with Jim Woods, the patriarch of Carson Valley birding.
Woods and Jonkey went out to the area covering the Pine Nut Mountains.
“The easiest way to get in is along the powerline road,” Woods said to Jonkey, tracing a route into the mountains on a map.
Woods started Birding Under Nevada Skies in 2009 and has given talks and tours over the years, according to a story written for The R-C by Scott Neuffer.
He said he’s been participating in the Christmas bird counts since at least 2010, though he said he doesn’t pay much attention to the number.
“Jim’s counting them all the time,” Jonkey said.
Each set of birders gets an area within the circle around Carson Valley that extends from the base of the foothills well into the Pine Nuts.
“All the Audubon is worried about is the 15-mile radius, so I just started counting birds,” Woods said. “This is the longest citizen scientist project in the world.”
The bird count started in 1900 after the Audubon Society transformed a tradition of hunting birds to one of counting birds.
“While the little lady was fixing Christmas dinner, the guys went out and shot birds and then count whoever got the most, won,” Jonkey said. “Then they decided, ‘Well, we don’t have any more birds to kill,’ so maybe we should count them.”
Bay Area residents Tom Farella and Leslie Lew were there to try their hand at bird counting.
“We’ve never done one of these,” Lew said.
The couple were interested to hear about Eagles and Agriculture, which is Feb. 6-9.
Sign-ups for the annual event that features tours of Carson Valley ranches and an opportunity to view eagles and other raptors.
For more information, visit Carsonvalleynv.com and click on events.
