Notes about your surroundings.

Christmas Bird-Count Results--Some preliminary results of the Christmas Bird Counts, led locally by the Sea & Sage chapter of the National Audubon Society, are in.

More than 150 bird species were spotted during the Inland Count, held Dec. 16. Some of the more abundant species in the area include the following:

* Ruddy duck--1,849 spotted. The ducks were most common in the Mission Viejo and El Toro areas.

* Mourning dove--1,025 spotted. These birds were most common in the Rattlesnake and Siphon reservoirs areas.

* California gull--6,231 spotted. The most common of all birds seen during the Inland Count. Nearly 3,800 of the gulls were spotted near Irvine Lake.

* American coot--1,487 spotted. About 800 were seen in the Mission Viejo and El Toro areas.

* Common raven--1,013 spotted. The raven was spotted in all 13 geographical sections of the count, but was most common in the Irvine Park area.

* European starling--1,116 spotted. Nearly 300 were spotted in Modjeska and Harding canyons.

* Yellow-rumped warbler--3,414 spotted. A significant number of these birds were spotted in each of the geographical sections.

* White-crowned sparrow--2,291 spotted. It, too, was spotted in every geographical section of the count, though it was most common in the Lemon Heights area.

* House finch--1,565 spotted. About 330 were spotted in the Mission Viejo and El Toro areas.

On the other side of the spectrum, only one bird was spotted during the count of the following species--common loon; Eurasian wigeon; red-naped sapsucker; spotted dove; prairie falcon; Pacific-slope and ash-throated flycatchers; thick-billed kingbird; rock wren; Nashville, yellow, hermit and hooded warblers; summer and western tanagers; dark-eyed (slate-colored) junco; Lapland longspur and northern (Bullock’s) oriole.

Results from the Coastal Count will be available soon.