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Page last updated on April 6, 2010
Planning Ahead for Next Year? - The count will be on Sunday, December 19, 2010
Each year the chapter participates in the Christmas bird count conducted in December just before Christmas. For 2009, the count was held on Sunday, December 20. After the count, we had our annual Chili Dinner at the Mingo Shelter in the Sand Run MetroPark.
If you are interested in participating in the future, send e-mail to the address given at the bottom of this page and the information will be forwarded to the organizers. Another alternative is to send e-mail to one of the organizers directly at m.morgan3@sbcglobal.net. The most important thing is to get in touch with us; we'd love to hear from you. Participating in the count is a great way to improve your birding skills since you will be teamed with experienced birders.
Members roam throughout their assigned territory counting birds that they either see or hear. Many of the previous counters started as novice birders who worked with more accomplished birders during the count. Having an extra set of eyes to find birds helps make the count more accurate. In addition, the novice can learn how to recognize birds by sight, sound, and environment.
The long term benefit of this activity is a record of how the distribution of species and counts within species changes over the years. This data is of importance to biologists and environmentalists who wish to monitor the changes that occur on a regional or national level, not just a local level.
A fitting finale to the count is then to attend the Chili Dinner held by the Chapter to help warm the insides after a "chili" day of counting.
For more details on the count or the dinner, check out our newsletter. For more information on the count at the national level, click on CBC Home Page
We saw 83 different species in the 2009 count. Participants in the 2009 count are given at CBC Participants.
We have some pictures that were taken during the very snowy 2004 event. Thanks to Roberta Gallagher for taking them. As you can see, it was quite a snowy day. You can click on an image to open a larger window of that picture.
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The results of the count for the last nine years are given below:
(Note: entries with an asterisk (*) were pending; cw = count week)
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Species Count Count Count Count Count Count Count Count Count Count
------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
common loon - - cw 2 1 1 1 - - 1
pied-billed grebe 1 16 3 8 1 8 7 10 3 3
horned grebe - - - - 1 - - - - -
dble-cr cormorant - - 1 - 1 - - - - -
great blue heron 17 37 34 23 17 45 35 15 25 25
Turkey Vulture - - - 1 - 1 - - 5 -
Snow Goose - - - - - - - - 15 2
Cackling Goose - - - - - - - - 2 -
Ross's Goose - - - cw - - - - - -
Canada goose 2332 2563 4839 2769 3396 4123 4373 2652 4939 5775
tundra swan 6 5 1 - 124 7 - - 8 17
mute swan 6 11 27 21 33 28 19 7 7 12
black swan - 1 - - - - - - - -
wood duck - 6 7 7 2 2 1 1 8 1
gadwall 4 22 2 23 6 1 3 8 1 9
American wigeon - 6 - cw 1 - 3 6 1 1
American black duck 17 34 42 22 24 29 28 24 35 44
mallard 1116 1464 2220 1363 1381 2515 1620 1530 1905 1722
northern shoveler - - 6 6 15 - - 10 2 -
northern pintail - - - - 1 - 1 - - -
green-winged teal 1 1 - - - - - - 4 -
canvasback 2 1 - cw cw 2 - - 5 -
redhead 1 6 1 cw 1 1 - - 1 6
ring-necked duck 159 154 129 141 49 46 167 162 134 67
greater scaup - - - cw - - - - - -
lesser scaup - 15 3 29 1 28 8 - - 5
bufflehead 3 27 1 4 3 4 1 4 55 3
common goldeneye 7 - 2 - 2 14 - - 6 -
hooded merganser 9 22 18 84 22 26 69 4 104 29
common merganser - - - 2 - - 1 - 1 -
red-breasted merganser - - - 7 - 18 - - - -
ruddy duck 2 323 9 9 224 24 12 12 15 14
bald eagle - - 7 1 2 4 1 - - 5
northern harrier 1 - 1 2 - - - 1 - 2
sharp-shinned hawk 3 10 4 10 7 10 10 2 6 6
cooper's hawk 12 16 18 37 13 29 33 17 22 29
red-shouldered hawk 3 4 7 9 3 35 11 8 16 27
red-tailed hawk 54 85 94 81 39 105 98 46 80 124
rough-legged hawk - - - - 1 1 - - 4 2
American kestrel 8 11 7 8 2 6 4 1 - 3
merlin 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 3
peregrine falcon - - 1 - - - - 1 - -
wild turkey 37 16 - 4 30 34 30 92 24 25
Virginia Rail - - - - - - (cw) - - -
American coot 46 138 21 95 25 125 102 16 65 48
killdeer 1 - - 5 - 1 1 - 3 8
Bonaparte's gull - 11 - - 97 - - - - -
ring-billed gull 1836 1124 746 571 810 144 1937 370 425 1287
herring gull 21 26 29 10 8 1 51 2 36 81
great blk-bkd gull - - - - 6 - - - - 1
rock dove (pigeon) 945 1723 1433 1022 491 1058 878 838 786 846
mourning dove 489 957 1037 848 427 883 830 681 636 870
eastern screech-owl 4 12 5 7 5 8 13 6 10 7
great horned owl 6 9 9 5 3 10 7 6 5 5
snowy owl - - - - - - - 1 - -
barred owl 1 4 4 3 - 3 3 3 7 4
northern saw-whet owl - cw - - - - - - - -
long-eared owl - - - - - - - 1 - -
belted kingfisher 6 23 26 15 10 16 13 3 15 19
red-headed wdpker - - - - - 3 - - - -
red-bellied. wdpker 96 192* 168 189 115 326 154 150 188 288
yllw-bellied sapsucker 1 1 5 2 2 13 4 3 3 1
downy woodpecker 216 338 256 315 190 394 394 248 305 357
hairy woodpecker 52 82 52 67 60 83 82 39 61 83
northern flicker 22 33 71 37 24 68 27 18 39 41
pileated woodpecker 8 11 9 16 10 22 24 8 16 41
eastern phoebe - - 1 - - - - - - -
northern shrike - - - 1 2 1 - 1 1 -
white-eyed vireo - - - - 1* - - - - -
blue jay 601 1007 796 681 338 1076 592 557 741 1112
American crow 1012 1010 874 493 992 1062 2157 599 599 599
horned lark 8 - 7 - - - - 2 - -
blk-capped chickadee 873 1029 755 844 483 1063 976 720 1102 1058
tufted titmouse 305 493 264 263 187 369 329 332 360 511
red-breasted nuthatch 1 64 7 6 9 72 1 38 15 5
wh-breasted nuthatch 184 277 200 237 153 397 343 197 315 379
brown creeper 7 21 19 25 9 25 22 8 23 16
Carolina wren 32 82 67 64 45 123 182 59 78 80
winter wren 2 - 2 6 5 1 - 1 5 1
marsh wren - - - - - - 1 - - -
house wren - 1* 1 - 1 - 1 - - -
gold-crowned kinglet 57 13 64 22 57 43 102 9 25 39
ruby-crowned kinglet - - 7 1 6 7 1 2 - -
eastern bluebird 78 111 95 72 86 138 95 44 79 148
hermit thrush 2 - 1 2 - 3 3 - 1 1
American robin 53 187 281 672 977 1076 282 81 347 1109
northern mockingbird 1 - - 6 - - - - - 2
gray catbird - 1 2 2 - 3 4 2 - 2
brown thrasher - - - - - 1 - - - -
European starling 2007 8561 5665 7732 2369 4537 4814 1957 6117 6869
American pipit - - - 1 - - - - - -
cedar waxwing 813 340 269 109 122 87 103 306 215 174
yellow warbler - 1* - - - - - - - -
yellow-rumped warbler 3 1 4 9 - 7 - 26 4 18
pine warbler - - - - 1 - - - - -
ruf-sd (east'n) towhee - 2 6 13 2 17 3 4 - 4
Amer. tree sparrow 555 391 446 546 707 711 621 526 568 1743
chipping sparrow - - 2 1 2 - - - - 1
field sparrow 1 2 3 3 2 14 8 - 8 5
fox sparrow 1 1 2 1 1 5 2 - 1 1
song sparrow 82 146 167 246 195 354 197 197 97 177
swamp sparrow 14 35 23 27 3 14 18 5 9 6
white-throat sparrow 140 124 115 202 242 712 212 153 211 191
white-crowned sparrow 5 43 17 8 6 28 8 8 28 39
dark-eyed junco 618 625 791 799 686 1061 840 700 1120 645
northern cardinal 746 851 581 1055 902 1117 895 932 881 1104
red-winged blackbird - 174 1 7 7 5 74 65 9 49
rusty blackbird 7 15 - 1 1 1 1 9 - 5
common grackle 18 62 7 49 109 30 31 14 8 12
brown-headed cowbird 3 - 19 21 5 49 10 1 8 8
Baltimore Oriole - - - - - - 1 - - -
purple finch 2 4 3 1 20 15 4 1 2 20
house finch 606 929 645 823 469 508 424 373 342 514
white-winged crossbill - cw* - - - - - - 17 -
common redpoll - - - 4 - - - 8 4 -
pine siskin - - - - 2 3 - 3 150 2
American goldfinch 752 1038 1045 751 783 1122 1139 617 871 1075
evening grosbeak - - 1 - - - - - - -
house sparrow 1485 2714 3023 2049 1078 1714 1868 1598 1781 2768
Total # of species 74 77* 82 84 86 85 78 79 82 83
Total # of birds 18638 29899* 27635 25737 18752 27879 27421 17162 26176 32441
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