We're For The Birds

June 20, 2005

By Bump Diamond
Man About Town

    Hey there sure are a lot of bird-brains around here. And there are a lot of birds, too.
    Fifty-two members of the Eastern Sierra  Audubon Society counted 209 species in Inyo County (Bishop) last May 14—International Migratory Bird Day—according to group spokesperson Roberta Lagomarsini.
    The count fell 10 short of the record of 219 species counted, she said, but the birders set a new record by finding 19,816 individual birds.
    “That's an incredible count for an inland county without any marine birds,” Lagomarsini said in a press release.
    Of the 209, 162 were “neotropical migrants,” that is, birds who winter in the tropics from Mexico to southern South America and breed from Inyo County to Alaska.
     Four species were added that had never before been recorded on similar days: a White-tailed Ptarmigan, two Band-tailed Pigeons, an adult male Vermilion Flycatcher, and two Rose-breasted Grosbeaks—one in Amargosa Canyon and the other in the White Mountains.
     The maximum number records for 24 species were set: Gambel's Quail (55),California Gull (8,277), Great Horned Owl (15), Black-chinned Hummingbird (93), Costa's Hummingbird (40), Broad-tailed Hummingbird (20), Say's Phoebe (66), Western Kingbird (207), Loggerhead Shrike (28), Bell's Vireo (12), Rock Wren (105), Canyon Wren (14), Bewick's Wren (168), House Wren (173), Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (112), Black-tailed Gnatcatcher (6), Black-throated Gray Warbler (57), Yellow-breasted Chat (46), Green-tailed Towhee (56), Spotted Towhee (174), Lazuli Bunting (116), Great-tailed Grackle (173), Bullock's Oriole (183), and Lesser Goldfinch (461).
    This was the ninth annual International Migratory Bird Day in which Inyo County has participated, Lagomarsini said in the press release, adding,
    “This homage is meritoriously deserved by the feathered many whose perilous flights north and south inspire a sense of wonder from those who cannot fly. The event is a celebration of Inyo County's diverse habitats and the wonder of bird migration.”

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