A family friend passed this on to me, thought some tweets might find it
interesting.

"Crows turn out in force for bird count"
by Liz Cobbs News Staff Reporter, Ann Arber News

The crows turned out in record numbers, but other species were not to
be found during the 50th annual Ann Arbor Christmas Bird Count on Saturday
[Jan 4th, 1997].
Although the official final results are still not available,
preliminary figures released Wednesday show only about 50 species were
found during Saturday's count according to Washtenaw Audubon Society
records.
Bird counters believed the dense fog and rainy conditions on Saturday
contributed to the lowest count since 1967, when 42 species were found.
However, the counters say that they saw a record number of 9.983 crows,
almost four times the previously high record. Many of the crows were
found roosting in the area of the University of Michigan's Angell Hall.
There also was the first-ever sighting in Ann Arbor of a horned grebe,
which was found at Gallup Park.
Also, a northern shoveler was sighted for the second count on record,
as was the wild turkey.
Among the birds missed this year were the horned lark, the
yellow-rumped warbler, the purple finch and the swamp sparrow.
In addition to the crows, the highest-counted birds this year were
3,032 Canada geese, 2,338 European starlings, 1,509 rock doves, and 1,367
house sparrows.
Besides the northern shoveler and horned grebe, only one red-winged
blackbird and one hermit thrush were seen.
The official Ann Arbor Christmas Bird Count results are expected to be
available in March and will be posted on the Internet at this address:
http://members.aol.com/nhf-french/aacbc.html.

*****

I find it very telling of the suburban sprawl that is affecting Ann Arbor,
that they only found one red-winged blackbird. When I lived there, when
the farms surrounding the city were still farms (and not pasteboard
cookie-cutter subdivisions without a single tree), you were always finding
blackbirds in culverts and swampy places inside the city. Sigh.

Susan Collicott
camel at serv.net
Seattle, WA