Early winter is a slow time for birding, but we do look forward to the Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC). In December we took advantage of the beautiful Christmas weekend and walked the trails in our area both Saturday and Sunday, looking for birds.

The CBC is a national effort to identify and count birds in specific count circles in a specified time period. Harvard is in the Groton-Harvard circle and is broken up into 10 separate areas. (Ned Toll coordinates the count in Harvard and assigns interested birders to a specific area.) The CBC started in 1902, and has been going on for about 11 years in the Groton-Harvard circle.

This year 70 species of birds were recorded in our circle during the CBC. Pam and I were able to see about 16 species—quieter than in past years, despite our extended efforts. The most exciting sighting for us was a Brown Creeper in the woods bordering a small stream on the Prospect Hill conservation land. We heard a high, thin call and wandered off trail to find the source. We noticed movement up a tree trunk and were rewarded with a clear sighting. This diminutive, brownish bird creeps up tree trunks and has a distinctive curved bill to glean insects.

The next week we saw a large raptor flying over the Wachusett Reservoir on our way to a meeting in Boylston. I was confident that it was a Bald Eagle, even though it was a fair distance away. Apart from the noticeable white head and tail, the form that an eagle takes (almost flat wings) when flying makes it easily identified—even from a distance. During the CBC two Bald Eagles were seen in the Leominster area.

We are enthralled by the daily visits of bluebirds to our farm. They seem to relish the sunflower pieces that we have in our main feeder, as well as the suet mixture I feed them. We are still getting flocks of robins and Cedar Waxwings gorging on the fruit of the Korean Mountain Ash.

The feeders continue to attract juncos, chickadees, House Finches, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, and three species of woodpeckers. We have never had the largest of woodpeckers, the Pileated, at the feeders, but they consistently explore the cavities in our grand old sycamore and create incredibly loud drumming sounds on the hollow branches.

We have had a pair of Red-tailed Hawks hunting our pastures lately. On our Christmas-Day walk we had especially nice views of both of them snuggled together on a high branch with their white-streaked breasts illuminated by the setting sun.

We are hearing more and more of the Great Horned Owl that hangs around south Harvard in the tall white pines. Those birds will be getting more active and verbal soon, as they start searching for mates and nests.

David Durrant lives with his wife, Pamela, on East Bare Hill Road at Micheldever Farm, where they watch birds—their own peacocks, chickens, and wild birds.