Close the books on the Peachtree

City Christmas Bird Count for 2000.

At last report, all 19 observers

were present and accounted for, and had survived sloshing about with steamed-up

binoculars and wet wool socks in a day of steady cold rain.

Owing partly to early morning

fog, which made census-taking of waterfowl almost impossible, the overall

totals were low. There were, however, two first-time birds added to a

local history that dates back to 1981.

Birders from several counties

started the annual census before dawn Dec. 16, fanning out over a circle

15 miles in diameter and centered in Sharpsburg. In addition to the field

counters, several couples maintained a feeder watch from the comfort of

their homes.

"I had a lot of calls

from interested people who had not participated before," said count

coordinator Brock Hutchins, "but I think the weather kept them home."

When all the numbers were lined

up, the 2000 count yielded 82 different species and 7,002 individual birds.

The first number is fairly average, Hutchins said, while the second is

on the low side. In fact, only 1998 showed a smaller total, with 6,200

birds reported.

As many as 91 species have

been observed, in 1986 and 1990, and more than 44,500 individuals tallied

in 1994. Hutchins noted that fewer hawks and owls were seen in the 2000

count, and guesses that record development in the area has reduced habitat.

He cautioned, however, against

making assumptions based on any one tally. The data gathered by more than

50,000 volunteers in 1,800 circles over a period of years are certainly

helpful to researchers calculating trends, but a single count-circle in

a single year is not a large enough sampling.

But it's hard not to lament

the disappearance of once common species that seem to have left the area.

The Northern bobwhite, a perky little game bird that used to be seen marching

across urban lawns with a line of chicks behind her, was counted in the

CBC of the late 1980s in numbers up to 52. None were seen in 1990, 1991

and 1993, and only one has been seen since 1996. None was seen in 2000.

The two birds that made the

2000 list for the first time were a sedge wren and three LeConte's sparrows.

The secretive sedge wren is an inch shorter than his familiar cousin,

the Carolina wren, and hides in dense, tall grasses. The LeConte's sparrow

also is described as very small and secretive in bird guides.

Both are often glimpsed as

simply a "small brown bird flying away," one guide says. In

both sightings last month, these birds were identified by experienced

birders who got an unusually long look at them.

Hutchins said he was gratified

that so many people called for information about the count and also to

offer teams of canvassers access to private property. "Considering

the weather, it was not a bad day's work," he said.

The Christmas Count is sponsored

jointly by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Laboratory of

Ornithology. Records of surveys done for much of the 101-year history

of the hemisphere-wide project, including tallies submitted from the Peachtree

City circle, may be found at https://birds.cornell.edu .