2011 Christmas Bird Count Thread (1 Viewer)

[Mysticete]

For all of us US/Canadian birders, did you do a CBC this year? If so how did you do?

I only did one this year, the Laramie Count. Finally got enough senority locally to pick my own area, and got the "tree district" area around my house, usually a pretty good spot.

Not this year however...7 hours of walking neighborhoods only netted me 10 species. Those ten included several hundred House Sparrow, Over a hundred Rock Pigeons, and smaller numbers of Starling and Eurasian Collared Dove. Somehow completely dipped on Flicker, which SHOULD be a give me bird in the neighborhood.

On the bright side, I had two CBC birds I hadn't seen on any previous counts. Dark-eyed Junco is regular pretty much yearly, but something only present around feeders locally. Even better was a Merlin, a tricky bird for our count.

 

[J.W.Ray]

Just completed one yesterday. Think we ended up with 63 species in our portion of the circle. I am not sure what the total was for the entire circle yet. Of the 63, 3 were lifers for me......Ferruginous Hawk, Lark Bunting, and Lark Sparrow, so it was a good day for me!

May do one or two more this year but I havent decided yet.

 

[Farnboro John]

For all of us US/Canadian birders, did you do a CBC this year? If so how did you do?

I only did one this year, the Laramie Count. Finally got enough senority locally to pick my own area, and got the "tree district" area around my house, usually a pretty good spot.

Not this year however...7 hours of walking neighborhoods only netted me 10 species. Those ten included several hundred House Sparrow, Over a hundred Rock Pigeons, and smaller numbers of Starling and Eurasian Collared Dove. Somehow completely dipped on Flicker, which SHOULD be a give me bird in the neighborhood.

On the bright side, I had two CBC birds I hadn't seen on any previous counts. Dark-eyed Junco is regular pretty much yearly, but something only present around feeders locally. Even better was a Merlin, a tricky bird for our count.

Man, that is hard work for not much. I'm guessing you aren't going to rush out on January 1st expecting a century on the first day.

John

 

[Mysticete]

since moving to Laramie, I have never gotten more than 14-15 species in winter in a single day. Basically, we are too far south to get a lot of the "good" northern birds, other than Northern Shrike, Rough-legged Hawk, or Bohemian Waxwing, but too cold for many birds to overwinter and survive. Almost all are water freezes over, so nearly all are waterbirds are gone.

If I hit up a lot of spots and had some luck I could probably get 20-ish birds around laramie on January 1st, but it's hard to pick up momentum for that when it is so slow.

This is a big reason why I want to move back to San Diego for my postdoc...

 

[Reuven_M]

I did my local count very close to home Saturday. Although most people reported very low numbers, I had an excellent day with 1 great horned and 1 long-eared owl being the most exciting, and some other good species like 1 pileated woodpecker, 3 winter wren, 1 song and 4 white-throated sparrow. Also some excellent numbers: 12 downy woodpecker, 71 black-capped chickadee, 51 junco, 33 cardinal, 133 goldfinch.

Overall 595 birds of 30 species, walked 18 kilometers in 7 hours

 

[grebefeet9]

i participated in a count yesterday. our group did fairly well, but dipped rock wren and rufous-crowned sparrow due to excessive fog and cold. we got lucky with a couple of overflying double-crested cormorant. the highlight of the count was a virginia rail in a small pond, which responded to a recording.

 

[CObirdboy]

Participated in a CBC Saturday, 12/17. Lower Deer Creek Canyon, West of Chatfield State Park. 30 total species with a Golden Eagle being the highlight while the group was enjoying lunch.

CObb

 

[Farnboro John]

since moving to Laramie, I have never gotten more than 14-15 species in winter in a single day. Basically, we are too far south to get a lot of the "good" northern birds, other than Northern Shrike, Rough-legged Hawk, or Bohemian Waxwing, but too cold for many birds to overwinter and survive. Almost all are water freezes over, so nearly all are waterbirds are gone.

If I hit up a lot of spots and had some luck I could probably get 20-ish birds around laramie on January 1st, but it's hard to pick up momentum for that when it is so slow.

This is a big reason why I want to move back to San Diego for my postdoc...

Makes sense to me!

John

 

[Larry Lade]

I am the compiler for our count circle in and around Saint Joseph, Missouri. The area in which I count is my local patch area around Lake Contrary, just south of the city limits. I took three (3) people with me and we recorded 44 species. We had an overall count of 83 species with one additional "count week" (cw) bird, a Loggerhead Shrike.

 

[csanchez7]

Scouting for the Kendall CBC on the 24th in Miami-Dade, FL is really important this year because of the horrible date. I cover nearly half the circle and can only devote a few hours in the morning to the count so it will be a horribly tight rush. The big deal for my part of the circle is finding wintering passerines in all the various suburban/urban parks. Here is what I've managed to dig up so far:

3 vireo species (Blue-headed, Yellow-throated, and White-eyed)
16 warbler species (highlights: Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Cape May, Black-throated Green, and Wilson's Warbler)
Summer Tanager (2 individuals)

Wish it were on a different date.

Carlos

 

[Mysticete]

Our CBC seemed to also run into some issues with the date. I heard something like half the routes were initially unfilled, which was not helped by our count coordinator having to drop out at the last minute because of a family emergency

 

[csanchez7]

Some more scouting for the Kendall CBC was very productive today -- I saw and photographed a Western Tanager at Matheson Hammock, which is a first ever for the count. Last year, I found a Bell's Vireo which was also a first. I'm on a roll!

Carlos

 

[Laggard]

Spent the day birding with little success. Probably only 7 species. I was however the only one in our area to see a Snowy Owl.

 

[Larry Lade]

I believe more than ten (10) SNOWY OWLS are being seen in Missouri so far this winter. There are currently five (5) in the Smithville Lake area, Smithville, Missouri (near Kansas City, Missouri)

 

[alancairns]

Our CBC was on 17 Dec. (Sunshine Coast, BC). Our group had 50 species, and the total was 100. The outstanding observation was of 21,420 Ancient Murrelets, smashing by far the previous world record for this species on a CBC.

Alan

 

[csanchez7]

Our count happened today. Between two birders in our section of the count (about 35% of the circle), we recorded 62 species in 5 hours of intense and rushed birding as both of us had commitments at home. We recorded 15 species of warbler wintering in our area. Combined with the two found elsewhere within the count circle, I think our count may have the highest number of warbler species of any CBC in the ABA area.

High counts and good birds:

White Ibis (581!)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (2)
Short-tailed Hawk (2, dark morph)
White-crowned Pigeon (2)
Red-masked Parakeet (22)
Red-crowned Parrot (14)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (10)
Downy Woodpecker
White-eyed Vireo
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler (5)
Cape May Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler (33)
Prairie Warbler (6)
Palm Warbler (38)
Pine Warbler (13)
Yellow-throated Warbler (5)
Black-and-white Warbler (7)
American Redstart (3)
Orange-crowned Warbler (3)
Northern Parula (8)
Ovenbird
Wilson's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat (5)
Summer Tanager

...plus Yellow-throated Vireo and Baltimore Oriole for count week. The Matheson team got my Western Tanager and Black-throated Green Warbler today.

Low counts and bad misses:

Ring-necked Duck
American Kestrel
Monk Parakeet (only 2, usually ~50-60 in our section)
Barn Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Common Myna (only 1)
House Wren (ouch)
Gray Catbird (only 1)
Painted Bunting
Spot-breasted Oriole

...mostly due to time constraints. We did the best we could with the amount of time we were able to give to the count. The count usually averages about 130-140 species overall.

Carlos

 

[Fred Urie]

So far it's been a very mild winter in Ontario with 200 species seen in
the first 22 days. I had Snow Buntings, Pine Siskins and White-winged
Crossbill today but dipped on White-fronted Goose and Barred Owl.

Birds seen in Ontario have been Bobolink, Black-throated Green, Black-
throated Gray, Wilsons and Yellow Warbler and 25 to 50 Snowy Owls.

There is a Western Morph Red-tailed Hawk about a mile out of town
( Guelph ).

 

[Steve Gross]

I did the Aransas NWR count last Wednesday. I was lucky to get an assignment on the "Skimmer" boat, which covers the Intracoastal Waterway. We were responsible for counting Whooping Cranes, along with whatever else we found.

We had a total of 81 species, a little low for that area, but we also had a whopping 61 Whooping Cranes, all on my side of the boat. It was quite a spectacle, as many of the birds had moved into areas that had been burned by refuge staff only the day before. The blackened earth and trees really set off the brilliant white of the Whoopers. It was a great morning.

We also had one Lesser Black-backed Gull, a bird seen more and more along the Texas coast in winter. That one, I have to write up for the compiler.

One more CBC to go, this one on January 1. We usually start the year with 80-90 species in our area of the count - a decent showing.

 

[CObirdboy]

since moving to Laramie, I have never gotten more than 14-15 species in winter in a single day. Basically, we are too far south to get a lot of the "good" northern birds, other than Northern Shrike, Rough-legged Hawk, or Bohemian Waxwing, but too cold for many birds to overwinter and survive. Almost all are water freezes over, so nearly all are waterbirds are gone.

If I hit up a lot of spots and had some luck I could probably get 20-ish birds around laramie on January 1st, but it's hard to pick up momentum for that when it is so slow.

This is a big reason why I want to move back to San Diego for my postdoc...

What elevation are you at?

 

[Mysticete]

7500 feet