Dayton Daily News from Dayton, Ohio • 58

6-D Dayton Daily News Dec, 16, 1990 Christmas Bird Count facts innisow 9 Bird, nature lovers combine efforts for Christmas tradition JIM ROBEY U-- 2W OUTDOOR WRITER HOW MANY: Today marks the 66th Annual Christmas Bird Count in Dayton, and it is the 91st Anniversary Christmas Bird Count for the National Audubon Society. PARTICIPANTS: About 70 people are expected to take part in the Dayton Bird Count at 12 areas in and around Dayton, while 42,000 people will be involved in 1,600 other bird counts in the United States and other countries. MOST SPECIES SEEN LOCALLY: In the mid-1960s, Christmas bird counters saw 81 species of birds on one Christmas Bird Count. The usual number is about 65, but that winter a freeze-up of Lake Erie and marshes pushed ducks and gulls into the Dayton area, where water was still open the day of the bird count. MOST RELIABLE BIRDS: Nine species of birds have been identified at every Dayton Christmas Bird Count since 1924.

They are downy woodpecker, Carolina chickadee, tufted titmouse, brown creeper, cardinal, junco, tree sparrow, song sparrow and crow. MOST BIRDS IN A GROUP: The greatest number of birds ever seen in one group at a Christmas Bird Count was in 1952 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. A flock of 607,000 birds was seen. Most birds were starlings, but the flock included 300 red-winged blackbirds, 3,000 rusty blackbirds, 300 grackles and 1,200 cowbirds. COORDINATORS: The late Ben Blincoe was the first Christmas Bird Count coordinator and served for 42 years.

Jim Hill has been coordinator since 1970. COMPILATION: Christmas Bird Count leaders will meet with Jim Hill at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aullwood Nature Center, 1000 Aullwood Road, to tally the results of Sunday's bird count. Visitors are welcome. I hey don't make bird watchers as tough as they used to, but they are a lot smarter.

i I I Things that go bump in the light How fish even the food-chain scales rm i iltittfttfifrilrl(tM Ill i ift lt fi I i it iMH W.WWlflffttllllff'inf BILL REINKESTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER For the birds Among the species of birds to be seen this holiday season at the Aullwood Audubon Center are the downy woodpecker (top), the tufted titmouse (center) and the male cardinal. ByJoel Achenbach KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SFRVICF Q. Why do Bsh bite at dawn and dusk? A. Fish that are rangy at the twilight hours are called "crepuscular" (but not directly to their faces). So our question is, why are they crepuscular? First, we should note that one reason anglers do well at dawn and dusk is that it's the marine rush hour.

The fish population is undergoing a shift change, which is the same reason a police station is so crowded at 3 in the afternoon. The day shift is going and the night shift is coming. But the main reason is the light. Dimly lit water is perfect for predation. Let's say you're a big fish living just off the Florida Keys on one of the coral reefs not yet ground to powder by wayward tankers.

It's high noon. You're cruising the water, hungry, grouchy, with a hankering for snapper, preferably broiled in garlic butter. Suddenly, a school of snapper flashes by. You lunge wildly forward and miss. Why? Because you were blinded.

Your sensitive eyes aren't ideally designed for nabbing prey in. bright light. To prosper as a fish, you need to be able to navigate the waters during those hectic happy hours at dawn and dusk. The moment the sun gets low in the sky, water gets dim, and then it gets really dim until finally, it's lights out, In contrast, in the middle of the day the water is permeated white haze of water-scattered sunlight. But that's only the half of it.

Instead of camouflaging themselves in dark, drab colors, fish take the opposite approach: They take advantage of the predators' sun blindness and hide themselves in the dazzling light by reflecting it brilliantly. Silvery scales are God's answer to sequins. This "countershading" is even more effective when the fish hang out in schools. In fact, that's why they hang out in schools. They make for a confusing, blinding tarr get, and the predator can't easily focus on a lone victim.

Other reasons for schooling: It's easier for a fish to swim in the vortex created by a fish just ahead', and it's easier to attack prey from a group formation. Plus there are plenty of dating opportunities. So then: Instead of attacking at the height of the day or at night when it's too dark to see a smart fish waits until the light is gentler. That's when fishermen have their success. Now you say, OK, but by the same logic, shouldn't fish bite more when it's overcast? Yes.

And they do. Case closed. And Jim Hill, coordinator of the Dayton Christmas Bird Count, is glad about that. The annual outdoor event is today and Hill wouldn't want anyone to get injured while serving on bird duty. But he can't help but chuckle When he recalls the canoe episode that occurred some 20 years ago.

"Three of our bird counters decided to float down the Mad River," he stated with a grin. "They tipped the canoe over. You ought to ask Dane Mutter and Alex Shartle about it," said Hill, breaking into a laugh the more he thought about it. When contacted later, Mutter allowed that indeed he was a firsthand observer that cold, December day in 1970, or was it '69 or '71? Mutter, the retired assistant director of the Park District of Dayton-Montgomery County, was a little fuzzy on the year, but it was the only thing he had forgotten. "Shartle (park district manager at Possum Creek and Sugar-creek reserves), Don Mitchell and I had completed our Christmas Bird Count on land and decided to float the Mad River to see if we could spot some waterfowl," Mutter explained.

1 "Below 1-70, we got into some fast water that carried us into a fallen tree. Over we went. "I remember falling on my back and making some fast moves to get out of the water," Mutter recalled. Mutter smoked a pipe back in those days and didn't want the tobacco in his chest pocket to get wet. His "fast moves" not only saved the tobacco, the matches stayed dry, too.

The three men gathered wood at an island in the river, piled flat limestone rocks around the logs and started a fire. Mutter remembers that "it was a little above freezing, but cbld enough to make a wet person feel totally uncomfortable." Something else that made the wet canoeists uncomfortable was the limestone rocks. As they be- gan to dry out, the rocks cracked and exploded, throwing pieces of stone from the fire like shrapnel from an artillery shell. If all this wasn't bad enough, the wet bird watchers lost their bird book, their field notes and their thermos jug. marks the 66th Bird Count in Dayton sponsored by the Dayton Audubon Society.

The conservation group welcomes anyone who would like to participate, but usually there is a limited following outside the Audubon group because of a $5 charge, required by the National Audu- bon Society. Members of the local chapter have pointed out that participants are volunteering their time, and bird counting in Dayton, Ohio on Dec. 16 is not like doing it in the warm sunshine at Everglades National Park. So far, national Audubon leaders have not been impressed with these arguments. Coble's fisherman's calendar Time for each day tells when the fish bite best' air: SUN.

MON. TUE. WED. THU. FRI.

SAT. SUN. CX CX CX CX CXi CX CX CX3 12:31 1:22 2:11 2:59 3:46 4:30 5:14 5:57 P.M. P.M. I P.M.

I P.M. P.M. I P.M. I P.M. P.M.

Darker fish represent the best fishing days in 1,600 Christmas Counts in 50 states, the Canadian provinces, South America, Bermuda, West Indies and Pacific Islands, In the Dayton area today, approximately 70 bird watchers are expected to join one of 12 bird-counting parties. Mutter will be leading one of them by car and foot through the City of Dayton, while Shartle will lead another group around Huffman Reserve, Eastwood Lake and along, but not in, the Mad River. Others birding experts will be observing birds at Hills and Dales Park, Cricket Hollow, Woodland Cemetery, around the Wright State University area, Engle-wood Reserve, Taylorsville Reserve, Carriage Hill and Aullwood Audubon Center. Hill and his followers will be at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Some of the more unusual sightings recorded through the years include the spotting of a snowy owl at three Christmas Counts.

Even more rare was the sighting of a merlin (pigeon hawk) and a Harlequin duck. Peregrine falcons have been seen on several of the Christmas Counts. The most common bird seen in winter is the starling. The first National Audubon Count was in 1900, when 27 birdwatchers set out to count as many birds as possible at 25 locations in the northeast section of the country. One of the prime movers was Frank M.

Chapman, curator of ornithology at the American Museum of Natural History. Chapman told his fellow bird watchers that this event would be a good alternative to what sportsmen were doing at Christmas. This Christmasbetween Dec. 15 and Jan. 2, about 42,000 people are expected to take part 1000 Aullwood Rd.

19 Duck hunting resumes in South Hunting Zone. Runs to Jan. 6. 25 Merry Christmas. DECEMBER 16 Christmas bird count.

18 Compile results of Sunday's Christmas Bird Count, 7:30 p.m., Aullwood Nature Center, DDwafabie obit disaster sqpad! am MOSTLY ABOUT DOGS LISSA KAPLAN rescue, his tracking dog "alerted" just as well as they did, he reported. "As long as I live, I'll never forget the devastation," Tobin said. People who get involved with this un- paid search-and-rescue work are dedicated. "There are weeks when I'm out every night, yet for the last two months the phone hasn't rung." he said. "But I was raised to help others.

I'm an Eagle Scout, and that's part of the oath I took." Plans are to establish two search-and- rescue dog teams to cover the northern and southern portions of Ohio. This is part of the supplementation of existing search-and-rescue organizations planned by the Ohio Emergency Management Agency. Lack of funds has put these plans on hold until next year, when money for training and equipment acquisition is expected to become available. At present, the agency is compiling an -inventory of available resources across the state. "We are asking people to send a letter detailing what assets they have to con- tribute," said Ed Kovar of the Miami Valley Emergency Management Author-ity, 732 Watervliet Dayton 45420.

Those letters then will be forwarded to the OEMA. report it to their handler. The bloodhound's handler controls his dog on a long leash. That, coupled with the dog's enthusiasm for the trail can make things physical. "You can get dragged pretty well," Tobin said.

"I weigh 220, Jenny weighs 90 and has pulled me off my feet. At least once, that canine energy saved his life. "She pulled me out of a swamp when I couldn't find any solid ground to stand on," he said. The search-and-rescue team to which Tobin and his dog belong confines its efforts to Athens and bordering counties. Tobin, however, is willing to take Jenny where needed.

"I will respond," he said, "unless it's a criminal search and I have other plans." Though he and Jenny have tracked Squeaky Fromme in West Virginia and an escapee from the Lebanon Correctional Institute in Hocking County, as well as wandering children and a woman who got lost looking for her puppy, Tobin regards the Shadyside flood as the team's greatest challenge. "I didn't know if my dog could do cadaver search," he said. Working alongside German shepherds, German wirehaired pointers and Rhodesian ridgebacks, all members of the Kentucky Search Dog Association and experienced in rubble Ohio claims only 1 search-rescue team Canine disaster rescues are dramatic, but they certainly aren't common around here. Dogs discover people buried by an avalanche. Or dogs find those trapped under rubble created by a major earthquake.

But the dog pictured June 17 on the front page of the Dayton Daily News was looking for survivors of a flood a lot closer to home in Shadyside, Ohio. The mountainous or wilderness areas of this country most need search-and-rescue dog teams. But there is increasing interest fanned in part by the recent awareness of earthquake potential in establishing more groups in Ohio. The dog team pictured at Shadyside Jenny, 7, a bloodhound, and her owner, Jon Tobin, 34 belong to the only organized, volunteer dog search-and-res-cue team in the state, one of approximately 107 across the country. Tobin, who graduated from Wayne High School, is based in Athens, where he owns an outdoors and bike store, serves as the deputy director for operations for the Athens County Emergency Operations Center and belongs to the DOG SHOW RESULTS18D Athens County Search, Track and Rescue Association.

"We decided to form the dog team because, as we got involved in rescue work, it became very apparent that a dog that could track would be very handy," he said in a telephone interview punctuated by pauses for emergency pager messages. Southeast Ohio is a whole other ball-game than Dayton," he said, describing the rugged terrain in the southeastern part of the state, where it is not hard to get lost. "I've gotten turned around, and I'm good in the woods," he said. A teacher of vertical rescue techniques at Hocking College, he learned to teach bloodhounds by using material from the National Police Bloodhound Association and books on tracking by the American Kennel Club. "If you want a dog to find people, you want a bloodhound," Tobin said.

These dogs can break down scent into its components and follow a specific person's scent along the ground. Other breeds used in rescue work air scent while running free. They detect any human scent in an area and return to i i BILL GARLOWSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Owner Jon Tobin and Jenny search for survivors after Shadyside flood.