Gosh, I forgot to note the first bird I saw yesterday. It was probably
a raven. I went out for gas and ravens are stationed on almost
every street light along the way. They make a nice contrast with
the snow and hoarfrost. Meaning? Hopefully that 1998 will be a
lot of fun.

Thought I'd pass along the results of Anchorage's Christmas
Bird Count, which took place December 20.

Mallard: 1029 (down from the usual 2000+)
Lesser Scaup: 1
Common Goldeneye: 26
Barrow's Goldeneye: 10
Bufflehead: 1
Common Merganser: 4
Bald Eagle: 9 (record high)
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 3 (record high)
Northern Goshawk: 3
Gyrfalcon: 1
Spruce Grouse: 4
Great Horned Owl: 1
Downy Woodpecker: 113 (record high)
Hairy Woodpecker: 86 (record high)
Three-toed Woodpecker: 18
Black-backed Woodpecker: 1
Northern Flicker: 1
Gray Jay: 22
Steller's Jay: 63
Black-billed Magpie: 678 (record high)
Common Raven: 563
Black-capped Chickadee: 1568
Boreal Chickadee: 221 (record high)
Red-breasted Nuthatch: 197
Brown Creeper: 12
American Dipper: 5 (record low)
Golden-crowned Kinglet: 30
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: 14
American Robin: 49 (record high)
Varied Thrush: 1
Bohemian Waxwing: 1409
Northern Shrike: 12 (record high)
American Tree Sparrow: 3
White-crowned Sparrow: 18
Dark-eyed Junco: 225
Rusty Blackbird: 3
Pine Grosbeak: 462
White-winged Crossbill: 28
Common Redpoll: 2397
Pine Siskin: 39

Found during count week, but not on count day: Siberian Accentor, Northern
Saw-whet Owl.

Interesting how many highs there were this year, although total species was
well within
the normal range and few were rarities.

Happy New Year all and keep up the good sightings, interesting threads and
egregious puns. (Had to look up the word "egregious" and realized that it
occurs
most frequently next to the word "pun." Hmm.)

Chris Maack
Anchorage, AK
CMaack at compuserve.com