In America's storied past, the big thing to do on Christmas was to go out kill things. Instead of counting birds, people went out to see who could kill the most animals and birds. Back in 1900, the curator at the American Museum of Natural History started getting people involved in counting birds instead of killing them. This count has evolved into a huge database of information that lets scientists and naturalists follow how species are doing, or not doing as the case may be.
I was part of the Galena team, a four mile stretch along the Jordan River that took us six hours to complete. It was bitterly cold. The breeze added to the cold factor, trying to freeze any uncovered skin. I think near the end of the count we finally hit a high of 26 but it was around 16 degrees when we started.
The Jordan River is kind of in the middle of the valley. To the east are the Wasatch Mountains.
And to the west you can see the enormous tailings piles from the Kennecott (now Rio Tinto) copper mine.
There were ten of us on the Galena survey armed with binos, cameras and Little Hotties to stuff in our gloves and boots. We were all trying to spot as many birds as possible, and Bryant, our fearless leader, was writing down every species and how many.
The most unexpected bird was a Virginia Rail in plain sight, letting everyone have a good look. These little birds hide in the reeds around water and while you can often hear them, they aren't that easy to find. This little guy practically posed for us.
We were all ready to head home for hot showers to warm up. Viv and I decided we needed to indulge ourselves after the long cold walk and stopped at Gardner Village. The Chocolate Covered Wagon candy store has the best hot chocolate I've ever had. And we needed that hot drink! Yummy and warming.
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