“How come birds are NOT coming to my feeder?”  “Where are all the birds?”  These are the two commonly asked questions this fall.

The National Audubon Society always carries out a Christmas Bird Count held between mid-December through the first week in January, all over the United States and elsewhere.  On December 18th, the catch phrase for the 2011 Pinelands and Moorestown circles, where birders in our area survey, was “where are all the birds?”

 This year was the 25th Bird census here at Medford Leas.We do not submit our count to National Audubon but we do keep records from year to year.  Medford Leas birder’s records begin in 1989 recorded by former resident Wayne Marshall, late husband of Gertrude Marshall.  These records show that 32 residents took part in that census.  This group recorded at any time during the day, saw as many as 28 species and counted over 1,112 birds.

On Monday, January 9th, a cold, mostly cloudy day, four residents — Louise Tompkins, Miriam Swartz, Sue Dowling, and Gil Goering — met at the Nature Center at 9 a.m. We traversed the garden area and the adjoining backyards of Rushmore homes. Walking on toward Bridlington, we observed feeders along the way, then walked the trail behind Bridlington back toward the courts, ending our census at 11 a.m. We observed more than 50 Robins and Canada Geese. We also saw Carolina Wrens, a Blue Jay, and a mockingbird, several White-throated Sparrows,Turkey Vultures, Cardinals, and Juncos. Gil Goering reported late in the day that he saw two Tufted Titmice, and one Downy Woodpecker in the courtyard behind his apartment. Barbara Heizman and Ro Wilson reported from their home feeders. They added Red-bellied Woodpecker, Red-tailed Hawk and Black Vultures to our list.  Our total count for the day was 17 different species of birds and 240 individual birds.