Near-perfect weather (sunny skies, light northerly breeze turning calm by early afternoon, high in the mid-50s). Perhaps it was a bit too nice from a listing perspective – birds seemed spread out and a bit inactive. However, as additional parties (19) continued to report after our compilation dinner, we (45 skilled and dedicated volunteers) still managed to tally a respectable 111 species including a total of 154,983 birds!
On the local scale, significant reduction of mudflats around the area lakes due to above-average yearly rainfall coupled with further reduction of habitat (i.e., developments, grubbing/clearing of vegetation on public lands) likely is reflected in our data.
No major rarities although we logged some birds that should not be expected on an annual basis including Black Scoter, Glaucous Gull and Short-eared Owl. Also, Snow Goose, Lesser Black-backed Gull (3) Great Egret, Black-crowned Night-Heron (8), Horned Lark, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Towhee, Chipping Sparrow, Tree Sparrow (15) Purple Finch are noteworthy.
Several teams reported large murmurations of starlings and Red-winged Blackbirds coming off roosts. In fact the Sterling team estimated approximately 100,000 blackbirds at Lake Overholser! We may have set an all-time high count of American White Pelicans (415). The Woodson team found 146 American Goldfinches bringing the group count to 268 and Winter Wrens (15) also made a strong showing.
The trend of more Red-breasted Mergansers than Common Mergansers continued. Also, the upward trend of Eastern Phoebes was demonstrated with a total of 14 birds.
A few misses as always and this year Greater Scaup, American Pipit and Common Yellowthroat were not counted. Golden-crowned Kinglets (2) and Cedar Waxwings (65) seemed way down.
I was impressed that the Diffin team found a light-phase Harlan’s Hawk which demonstrated attention to detail. And speaking of detail, I was so impressed just reviewing all of the checklists and taking note of the individual styles and organizational skills that went into the tallying efforts.
We had several long-standing members back counting again which was special but we missed a few this year due to unavoidable conflicts. Also excited to have several first-time CBC participants that hit the ground running.
A special thank you for your time (118.45 party-hours and 2.5 owling hours) and effort Bill Diffin, Jeff Tibbits, Carla Bruggen, Feodora Steward, Neil Garrison, Mark Howery, Sharon Henthorn, Dave Woodson, Sue Woodson, Ted Golden, Bob Judd, Patti Muzny, Nancy Vicars, Brian Munzy, Hal Yocum, Andy Feldt, Brian Marra, Deanne McKinney, Betz Hacker, Robert Holbrook, Jerry Taylor, Marilyn Taylor, John Sterling, Larry Mays, Aaron Mechem, Morton Payne, Matthew Payne, Johnson Hightower, Ted Cassidy, John Cleal, Marion Homier, John Shackford, Warren Harden, Jack Tyler, Terri Underhill, Jimmy Woodard, Mark Delgrosso, Val Bradshaw, Patricia Velte, Keith Green, Janiece Gratch, Roy McGraw, Chase Moxley, Jennie Brooks and Nathan Kuhnert.
Our final results will be entered into the National Audubon CBC Portal and then sent to our region’s new compiler, Gene Young. The complete official list is below.
— Nathan Kuhnert, compiler
| Snow Goose (white form) | 3 | Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | 7 | |
| Cackling Goose | 387 | Downy Woodpecker | 58 | |
| Canada Goose | 1782 | Hairy Woodpecker | 6 | |
| Wood Duck | 3 | Northern Flicker | 65 | |
| Gadwall | 138 | Northern (Red-shafted) Flicker | 3 | |
| American Wigeon | 62 | Northern (Yellow-shafted) Flicker | 1 | |
| Mallard | 574 | Pileated Woodpecker | 1 | |
| Northern Shoveler | 386 | Eastern Phoebe | 14 | |
| Northern Pintail | 6 | Blue Jay | 168 | |
| American Green-winged Teal | 24 | American Crow | 168 | |
| duck sp. | 10 | Horned Lark | 2 | |
| Canvasback | 51 | Carolina Chickadee | 169 | |
| Redhead | 27 | Tufted Titmouse | 19 | |
| Ring-necked Duck | 105 | Red-breasted Nuthatch | 2 | |
| Lesser Scaup | 342 | White-breasted Nuthatch | 1 | |
| Bufflehead | 165 | Brown Creeper | 2 | |
| Common Goldeneye | 38 | Carolina Wren | 90 | |
| Hooded Merganser | 83 | Bewick’s Wren | 5 | |
| Common Merganser | 28 | Winter Wren | 15 | |
| Red-breasted Merganser | 467 | Marsh Wren | 2 | |
| Ruddy Duck | 18 | Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 1 | |
| Black Scoter | 1 | Golden-crowned Kinglet | 2 | |
| Common Loon | 8 | Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 29 | |
| Pied-billed Grebe | 68 | Eastern Bluebird | 63 | |
| Horned Grebe | 54 | Hermit Thrush | 1 | |
| Eared Grebe | 1 | American Robin | 281 | |
| American White Pelican | 415 | Northern Mockingbird | 47 | |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 709 | Brown Thrasher | 3 | |
| Great Blue Heron (blue form) | 70 | European Starling | 7623 | |
| Great Egret | 1 | Cedar Waxwing | 65 | |
| Black-crowned Night-Heron | 8 | Orange-crowned Warbler | 3 | |
| Bald Eagle | 2 | Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) | 137 | |
| Northern Harrier | 5 | Spotted Towhee | 34 | |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 8 | Eastern Towhee | 1 | |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 9 | American Tree Sparrow | 15 | |
| Accipiter sp. | 1 | Chipping Sparrow | 1 | |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 16 | Field Sparrow | 20 | |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 92 | Savannah Sparrow | 16 | |
| Harlan’s Hawk | 1 | Fox Sparrow | 49 | |
| buteo sp. | 1 | Song Sparrow | 122 | |
| American Kestrel | 8 | Lincoln Sparrow | 7 | |
| American Coot | 201 | Swamp Sparrow | 10 | |
| Killdeer | 26 | White-throated Sparrow | 68 | |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 1 | Harris’s Sparrow | 218 | |
| Least Sandpiper | 73 | White-crowned Sparrow | 11 | |
| Bonaparte’s Gull | 183 | Dark-eyed Junco | 302 | |
| Ring-billed Gull | 7983 | Northern Cardinal | 297 | |
| Herring Gull | 38 | Red-winged Blackbird | 114399 | |
| Gull sp. | 50 | Eastern Meadowlark | 41 | |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 3 | meadowlark sp. | 15 | |
| Glaucous Gull | 1 | blackbird sp. | 520 | |
| Forster’s Tern | 3 | Common Grackle | 3123 | |
| Rock Pigeon | 485 | Great-tailed Grackle | 9620 | |
| Eurasian Collared-Dove | 105 | Brown-headed Cowbird | 1034 | |
| White-winged Dove | 2 | |||
| Mourning Dove | 74 | Purple Finch | 1 | |
| Great Horned Owl | 4 | House Finch | 80 | |
| Barred Owl | 1 | Pine Siskin | 4 | |
| Short-eared Owl | 1 | American Goldfinch | 268 | |
| Belted Kingfisher | 16 | House Sparrow | 165 | |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 62 | |||
| Total # | 154983 |