Christmas Bird Count counters counted 2 crows and about 1153 other birds, including a Vaux's swift, this morning (while yours truly was playing hooky at the beach with out of town relatives, counting sea gull tracks in the sand and watching the pelicans dive).

Posted on the Echo Park Animal Alliance list:

We had an enthusiastic mix of experienced and beginning birders today ... Even our "be on the lookout for" bird actually showed up. Dave Surtees kept scanning the skies, and lo and behind, there was a Vaux' swift, just above us near the boathouse. A really good birding day became a great day. Echo Park Lake may not be a big place, but we sure do get great visitors.

The final tally for the day: 33 species, 1155 individual birds counted In addition, in the three days prior to the count we also had 6 species that get a mention on the CBC scoreboard, but don't get counted individually. That's a record, I think, for the lake. Here is today's list: