BonnerSprings.com

Bonner Springs — Ah, the end of the year. Time to see family, exchange gifts, overeat and count birds.

The annual Camp Naish Christmas Bird Count is Friday, Dec. 21, and organizers are looking for all the volunteers they can get. And you don't need to be able to tell a cardinal from a condor to be able to help.

"Even inexpert helpers can be of assistance," said Stan Roth, who organizes the counts. That's because the expert bird spotters can't be looking in all directions at once, so a helper who notices something flitting by can direct the expert where to look, Roth said.

"It's an interesting way for people who don't have much experience to gain experience," Roth said. "In fact it's the way I gained experience."

"When I was in college one of my main professors ran one of these surveys" Roth said. "I went along and learned a little the first time, little more the second. Then I discovered what I learned took root and that I could do some of this without assistance."

Roth is a retired high school biology teacher who with his friend Jack Knouse instituted the counts at Camp Naish in 1960. He had attended camp there as a Boy Scout for successive summers beginning in 1948, then served on its summer staff years later.

The annual counts are always educational for the former educator. Even now, Roth said, "I learn something every year."

That includes from his own, former students, he said, one of whom is working on a doctorate in ornithology, and who has taught his former Lawrence High School teacher about bird ecology, behavior, silhouettes and calls.

Though he stressed that the evidence was anecdotal, Roth said "there does seem to be an increase in the bird life in and around" the camp since the counts began. "In and around the Naish Reservation, I kind of wonder if isn't some sort to sanctuary for Wyandotte County, because it's kind of concreted in : and this place kind of got to be a preserve for wildlife in general and especially birds, because they're not harassed."

The counts are in the winter, in part, Roth said, because it's easier to spot birds when the trees are bare, and fewer species he estimates a third fewer number of species stay at Naish through the winter - make it easier to count them.

The count will begin at 6 in the morning, starting with "owlilng": playing a recording of owl hoots to count the number of owls that reply in the dark. This

The annual surveys are valuable, Roth said, because in addition to individual learning, "we add something to the long-term knowledge of Camp Naish."

To help out with the Dec. 21 bird count at Camp Naish, contact Roth by e-mail at sdroth@ku.edu or by phone at (785) 843-4764.