Ken, as usual, participated in three Audubon Christmas bird counts this year. He was the director of the St. George bird count. Each of the three areas has a director who divides the area into smaller areas, assigning a leader over each. Each leader has a team. They identify species and count the birds in their area. That information is reported to the Audubon Society who tracks birds nationwide.
Saturday, December 16th was the Zion National Park Bird Count. This is probably Ken's favorite of the three. For years, his group goes to private property called Pareaunaweep. The current owner and his father join them. It was quite a large group this year- 12 people. Ken, his brother Don with Don's son Darren and his two sons, Marshall and Seth Topham and Seth's daughter, and three Roth boys (they used to live in our ward and are excellent birders.) They got 54 species in their area, including a Hammond's flycatcher and a Lewis' Woodpecker, both of which are quite rare and exciting finds.
Friday, December 22nd was the St. George bird count. Ken always is in charge of this one, though if anyone would like to take over, he would be more than glad to turn it over! It was a rainy day, but they still had fun. They had a young man with them part of the day, but mostly it was just Ken and Don in his area. They got 57 species in their area.
Saturday, December 23rd was the Silver Reef Bird Count. Ken's group had Don for half the day (he was called into do a sealing session at the St. George temple in the afternoon), and Ken's friend, Paul Hicks who is an excellent birder, and that same young man came for a couple of hours. Ken took Paul to meet Justin Neighbors who rehabilitates raptors. They had a most interesting visit with him. They got 56 species in their area and had a wonderful day of birding.
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