2014 CBC

2014 Christmas Bird Count Comments

Thanks to the 47 people who participated on this year’s OCAS Christmas Bird Count (CBC).  It was a great effort by a great group of people.  I feel privileged to be a part of it.

We had an excellent count:  116 species.  This was one more than the 115 I was shooting for; I had lowered our sights a bit from the 120 species we used to shoot for because we have lost so much field habitat to urban habitat.  My particular thanks to those whose area was heavily weighted with urban habitat, not always the most exciting or easiest habitat to survey.  But excellent birds still show up there.

Some of the CBC specialties were 2 Ross’s Goose (Patti and Brian Muzny, great find and careful ID, with photos); 5 Wild Turkey (Feodora Steward and Carla Brueggan, wonderful); 2 Bald Eagle (John Sterling party, excellent); 1 Ferruginous Hawk (Muzny party, great find); 1 Rough-legged Hawk (Shackford party, Jack Tyler and Warren Harden, outstanding); 1 Prairie Falcon (Jimmy Woodard party, yes!); 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larry Mays Party, our unbelievable “usual”); 6 White-winged Dove (2 Cheryl Allen Party, 1 Marion Homier party, 3 Esther Key party, great to see them in several places), 1 Greater Roadrunner (Dave Woodson party by their son Matt Woodson);  4 Eastern Screech-Owl (3 John Bates party, thanks for getting up in the middle of the night to do this John!, 1 Larry Mays party, the most Eastern Screech-Owls we have ever tallied I believe); 3 Hairy Woodpecker (2 Shackford  party, 1 Woodard party, this species has gotten down to very low numbers in our count area); 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch (Allen party—great feeder watching Cheryl!); 2 Hermit Thrush (Esther Key party, great work Esther!, John Bates party, great work Bill Diffin!); 6 Brown Thrasher (1 Bates party, 2 Shackford party, 3 Woodard  party—a Brown Thrasher year); 2 Eastern Towhee (Ernie Wilson party, outstanding Ernie); 4 LeConte’s Sparrow (Mays party—good show!); 30 Brewer’s Blackbird (Muzny party, always an excellent find); 7 Smith’s Longspur (3 Muzny party, 4 Woodard party, thanks for keeping us hanging in there on longspurs, guys), and 2 Purple Finch (Mays party, yeahhh).

Special thanks to Diane Newell for hosting our after count Tally Party, and to her friend Sally Coates for helping Diane prepare for the party.  It was a warm, cozy home after a quite dreary day of bird counting.  We are always very thankful for such a fun way to end our day.

John Shackford, Compiler

Species # Birds
Ross’s Goose 2
Cackling Goose 452
Canada Goose 3330
Wood Duck 18
Gadwall 490
American Wigeon 74
Mallard 2735
Northern Shoveler 264
Northern Pintail 115
Green-winged Teal 64
Canvasback 119
Redhead 100
Ring-necked Duck 79
Lesser Scaup 120
Bufflehead 54
Common Goldeneye 47
Hooded Merganser 125
Common Merganser 76
Red-breasted Merganser 465
Ruddy Duck 62
Duck (sp.) 15
Wild Turkey 5
Common Loon 19
Pied-billed Grebe 56
Horned Grebe 25
Eared Grebe 7
American White Pelican 334
Double-crested Cormorant 3396
Black-crowned Night-Heron 8
Great Blue Heron 130
Great Egret 8
Bald Eagle 2
Northern Harrier 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2
Cooper’s Hawk 16
Red-shouldered Hawk 22
Red-tailed Hawk 84
Ferruginous Hawk 1
Rough-legged Hawk 1
American Kestrel 36
Merlin 1
Prairie Falcon 1
American Coot 141
Killdeer 7
Greater Yellowlegs 30
Least Sandpiper 9
Wilson’s Snipe 2
Franklin’s Gull 1
Bonaparte’s Gull 287
Ring-billed Gull 6480
Herring Gull 86
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1
Gull (sp.) 7
Forster’s Tern 5
Rock Pigeon 2080
Eurasian Collared-Dove 303
White-winged Dove 6
Mourning Dove 139
Greater Roadrunner 1
Eastern Screech-Owl 4
Great Horned Owl 12
Barred Owl 3
Belted Kingfisher 20
Red-bellied Woodpecker 50
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 3
Downy Woodpecker 67
Hairy Woodpecker 3
Northern Flicker 131
(Yellow-shafted Flicker) 7
(Red-shafted Flicker) 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue Jay 219
American Crow 146
Carolina Chickadee 175
Tufted Titmouse 27
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 4
Brown Creeper 8
Carolina Wren 67
Bewick’s Wren 1
Winter Wren 2
Marsh Wren 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet 10
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 29
Eastern Bluebird 102
American Robin 3211
Hermit Thrush 2
Northern Mockingbird 129
Brown Thrasher 6
European Starling 4765
American Pipit 19
Cedar Waxwing 156
Yellow-rumped Warbler 66
Spotted Towhee 46
Eastern Towhee 2
American Tree Sparrow 2
Field Sparrow 11
Savannah Sparrow 25
Le Conte’s Sparrow 4
Fox Sparrow 42
Song Sparrow 91
Lincoln’s Sparrow 11
Swamp Sparrow 5
White-throated Sparrow 40
Harris’s Sparrow 423
White-crowned Sparrow 73
Dark-eyed Junco 485
Smith’s Longspur 7
Longspur (sp.) 50
Northern Cardinal 317
Red-winged Blackbird 684
Meadowlark (sp) 203
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Brewer’s Blackbird 30
Common Grackle 62
Great-tailed Grackle 261
Brown-headed Cowbird 4
Purple Finch 2
House Finch 135
Pine Siskin 3
American Goldfinch 346
House Sparrow 392
Total Species 116
Total # of Birds 35754
Additional species count week 0
Additional subsp. Or forms 1
Total Party Hours 120
–Party Hours (Foot) 75.5
–Party Hours (Car) 43
“–Party Hours (Kayak) 1.5
Total Party Miles 519.5
–Party Miles (Foot) 46.5
–Party Miles (Car) 471
“–Party Miles (Kayak) 2
Total (Party) Owling Hours 2.5
–Owling Hours (Foot) 2.5
–Owling Hours (Car)
Total (Party) Owling Miles 1
–Owling Miles (Foot)
–Owling Miles (car) 1
Total (Party) Feeder Hours 6
Total Observers (Feeder Only) 3
Total Parties 18
Total Observers (Field) 44
Total Obervers 47