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TUCKAHOE, N.Y. -- There were no calling birds, French hens or turtle doves, but there were starlings, robins, mallards and a green-winged teal.
These were some of the birds that were counted Monday morning by avid bird watcher Sandy Morrissey, a Hartsdale resident who took part in the National Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count, which is held annually on Dec. 26 in lower Westchester.
Armed with a special scope, binoculars and a pair of sturdy boots, Morrissey set out along Crestwood Lake, part of the Bronx River, at 8 a.m. on the day after Christmas to carry on a century-old tradition. It is a census count for birds and the information gathered in backyards and parks around Westchester is added to counts from around the country is compiled in a national database.
"Before we started the count at least 100 years ago, it was the tradition for men to spend the day after Christmas competing to see who could hunt and kill the most birds," Morrissey said. "Sometime around the turn of the century, someone started to count the birds instead of shooting them and we have been doing that ever since."
Morrissey is the president of the Bronx River Sound Shore Audubon Society, which is part the national group dedicated to keeping track of and preserving the bird population. Named after John James Audubon, a painter who published a book entitled "Birds of America" in 1838, the Audubon Society has more than 500 local chapters in the US devoted to conservation efforts to keep birds thriving.
For Morrissey, bird watching is a love affair that began when she hung a bird feeder in the back yard of her home in Hartsdale in 1975. Every day, Morrissey would watch the birds gather at her feeder and soon she wanted to know exactly what birds were there. With a book given to her by her sister, Morrissey discovered one of the birds was a morning dove.
"I got such a kick out of figuring out what kind of bird was at my feeder," Morrissey said. "Right then and there I was hooked."
And hooked she is. Morrissey said she spends her days looking up and always has binoculars and camera at the ready.
"I just never know when I will see a bird I have never seen before," she said. "I am always ready for that."
Morrissey is known as Grandma Birdie to her grandchildren and said she has been talking about birds to her kids and her grandkids since they were born.
"I am hoping I can get one of them interested in birding," she said. "I would truly enjoy that."
With more than 60 birds coming to her feeder these days, Morrissey said the bird population has shifted and evolved. One of her proudest accomplishments as a birder is getting bluebirds to return to lower Westchester. Bluebirds need large open spaces, like farmland, which is hard to find in such a densely populated and built up area, Morrissey explained.
But a few years ago, Morrissey started getting permission from local golf courses and cemeteries to build bluebird nesting boxes.
"Last year, we had 64 pairs of bluebirds and lots of babies," Morrissey said. "Did you know that the bluebird is the state bird of New York?"
But on Monday morning as she rushed off to another location with her list of counted birds firmly in hand, it was the wonder of seeing a red tailed hawk, the first bird she saw that morning, and also spotting a hooded merganser that was the most important things on Morrissey's mind.
"You usually don't get to see the hooded merganser in the winter," she said enthusiastically. "Take a look, I want you to see how beautiful they are."
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