Bradenton residents participate in National Audubon Society's 116th Christmas Bird Count
MANATEE -- Debra Comeau and her husband, Richard Comeau, woke up early to count birds.
From 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 19, the married couple and their friend, Connie Zack, spotted about 63 different bird species, including 310 white pelicans and 266 double-crested cormorans.
The chunk of their day spent counting birds was part of the National Audubon Society's 116th Christmas Bird Count, a long-standing program of the nonprofit environmental organization. The early winter bird census involves thousands of volunteers across the United States, Canada and many countries in the Western Hemisphere who go out over a 24-hour period on one calendar day to count birds.
Debra Comeau, a 61-year-old retired teacher who lives with her husband in Trailer Estates Park and Recreation District in Bradenton, volunteered because her interests dovetail with those of the census.
"It's really a wonderful thing and it feels good," Comeau said. "I love the outdoors. I love birds."
Comeau said it would take awhile to tally the birds counted in Bradenton because 13 teams participated.
The Comeaus and Zack together made up one team. The extremely windy day affected their count because many birds huddled together for warmth along Sarasota Bay, she said.
"That caused some birds to really hunker down and we were along the coast," she said. "Because of that, there were areas that were very light on birds. ... we had great numbers on some things and poor numbers in others."
The team, which covered the area by Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, up the Sarasota Bay coast to El Conquistador Parkway near IMG Academy in Bradenton, counted until sunset.
For Zack, the "great" day began with the sighting of an American kestrel near her home.
"That was one of our first birds that Debbie spotted right behind my house," the 82-year-old said in delight. "It's always such a surprise at how many things we saw. We were totally impressed with the number of shorebirds and the quantity of shorebirds we saw out in Sarasota Bay."
What surprised her the most, Zack said, was seeing a couple roseate spoonbills.
"We're not seeing those as much," she noted.
According to Debra, all data eventually collected by the organization can help determine trends, shortages and influx of birds.
"Of course, going back over 100 years, they can scientifically tie things in for a trends, loss of habitat, global warming, diseases," she added. "It's pretty amazing and definitely citizen science but, then again, used by scientists."
Amaris Castillo, law enforcement/island reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7051. Follow her on Twitter@AmarisCastillo.
This story was originally published December 25, 2015 at 8:54 PM with the headline "Bradenton residents participate in National Audubon Society's 116th Christmas Bird Count ."