Greater Akron Audubon Society

Christmas Bird Count

Page last updated on November 13, 2007

Each year the chapter participates in the Christmas bird count conducted in December just before Christmas. For 2007, the count will be held on Sunday, December 16. After the count, you are welcome to join us for our annual Chili Dinner held at the Mingo Shelter of the Sand Run MetroPark starting at 4:30.

If you are interested in participating, call Audubon Central at 330-920-9138 and leave your name and telephone number. An alternative is to 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

Participants in the 2006 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.

The results of the count for the last seven years are given below:
(Note: entries with an asterisk (*) were pending; cw = count week)

                    2000   2001   2002   2003   2004  2005  2006
Species             Count  Count  Count  Count  Count Count Count
-------             -----  -----  -----  -----  ----- ----- -----
common loon            -       -     cw      2      1     1     1
pied-billed grebe      1      16      3      8      1     8     7
horned grebe           -       -      -      -      1     -     -
dble-cr cormorant      -       -      1      -      1     -     -
great blue heron      17      37     34     23     17    45    35
Turkey Vulture         -       -      -      1      -     1     -
Ross's Goose           -       -      -     cw      -     -     -
Canada goose        2332    2563   4839   2769   3396  4123  4373
tundra swan            6       5      1      -    124     7     -
mute swan              6      11     27     21     33    28    19
black swan             -       1      -      -      -     -     -
wood duck              -       6      7      7      2     2     1
gadwall                4      22      2     23      6     1     3
American wigeon        -       6      -     cw      1     -     3
American black duck   17      34     42     22     24    29    28
mallard             1116    1464   2220   1363   1381  2515  1620
northern shoveler      -       -      6      6     15     -     -
northern pintail       -       -      -      -      1     -     1
green-winged teal      1       1      -      -      -     -     -
canvasback             2       1      -     cw     cw     2     -
redhead                1       6      1     cw      1     1     -
ring-necked duck     159     154    129    141     49    46   167
greater scaup          -       -      -     cw      -     -     -
lesser scaup           -      15      3     29      1    28     8
bufflehead             3      27      1      4      3     4     1
common goldeneye       7       -      2      -      2    14     -
hooded merganser       9      22     18     84     22    26    69
common merganser       -       -      -      2      -     -     1
red-breasted merganser -       -      -      7      -    18     -
ruddy duck             2     323      9      9    224    24    12
bald eagle             -       -      7      1      2     4     1
northern harrier       1       -      1      2      -     -     -
sharp-shinned hawk     3      10      4     10      7    10    10
cooper's hawk         12      16     18     37     13    29    33
red-shouldered hawk    3       4      7      9      3    35    11
red-tailed hawk       54      85     94     81     39   105    98
rough-legged hawk      -       -      -      -      1     1     -
American kestrel       8      11      7      8      2     6     4
merlin                 2       2      2      2      1     1     1
peregrine falcon       -       -      1      -      -     -     -
wild turkey           37      16      -      4     30    34    30
Virginia Rail          -       -      -      -      -     -   (cw)
American coot         46     138     21     95     25   125   102
killdeer               1       -      -      5      -     1     1
Bonaparte's gull       -      11      -      -     97     -     -
ring-billed gull    1836    1124    746    571    810   144  1937
herring gull          21      26     29     10      8     1    51
great blk-bkd gull     -       -      -      -      6     -     -
rock dove (pigeon)   945    1723   1433   1022    491  1058   878
mourning dove        489     957   1037    848    427   883   830
eastern screech-owl    4      12      5      7      5     8    13
great horned owl       6       9      9      5      3    10     7
barred owl             1       4      4      3      -     3     3
northern saw-whet owl  -      cw      -      -      -     -     -
belted kingfisher      6      23     26     15     10    16    13
red-headed wdpker      -       -      -      -      -     3     -
red-bellied. wdpker   96     192*   168    189    115   326   154
yllw-bellied sapsucker 1       1      5      2      2    13     4
downy woodpecker     216     338    256    315    190   394   394
hairy woodpecker      52      82     52     67     60    83    82
northern flicker      22      33     71     37     24    68    27
pileated woodpecker    8      11      9     16     10    22    24
eastern phoebe         -       -      1      -      -     -     -
northern shrike        -       -      -      1      2     1     -
white-eyed vireo       -       -      -      -      1*    -     -
blue jay             601    1007    796    681    338  1076   592
American crow       1012    1010    874    493    992  1062  2157
horned lark            8       -      7      -      -     -     -
blk-capped chickadee 873    1029    755    844    483  1063   976
tufted titmouse      305     493    264    263    187   369   329
red-breasted nuthatch  1      64      7      6      9    72     1
wh-breasted nuthatch 184     277    200    237    153   397   343
brown creeper          7      21     19     25      9    25    22
Carolina wren         32      82     67     64     45   123   182
winter wren            2       -      2      6      5     1     -
marsh wren             -       -      -      -      -     -     1
house wren             -       1*     1      -      1     -     1
gold-crowned kinglet  57      13     64     22     57    43   102
ruby-crowned kinglet   -       -      7      1      6     7     1
eastern bluebird      78     111     95     72     86   138    95
hermit thrush          2       -      1      2      -     3     3
American robin        53     187    281    672    977  1076   282
northern mockingbird   1       -      -      6      -     -     -
gray catbird           -       1      2      2      -     3     4
brown thrasher         -       -      -      -      -     1     -
European starling   2007    8561   5665   7732   2369  4537  4814
American pipit         -       -      -      1      -     -     -
cedar waxwing        813     340    269    109    122    87   103
yellow warbler         -       1*     -      -      -     -     -
yellow-rumped warbler  3       1      4      9      -     7     -
pine warbler           -       -      -      -      1     -     -
ruf-sd (east'n) towhee -       2      6     13      2    17     3
Amer. tree sparrow   555     391    446    546    707   711   621
chipping sparrow       -       -      2      1      2     -     -
field sparrow          1       2      3      3      2    14     8
fox sparrow            1       1      2      1      1     5     2
song sparrow          82     146    167    246    195   354   197
swamp sparrow         14      35     23     27      3    14    18
white-throat sparrow 140     124    115    202    242   712   212
white-crowned sparrow  5      43     17      8      6    28     8
dark-eyed junco      618     625    791    799    686  1061   840
northern cardinal    746     851    581   1055    902  1117   895
red-winged blackbird   -     174      1      7      7     5    74
rusty blackbird        7      15      -      1      1     1     1
common grackle        18      62      7     49    109    30    31
brown-headed cowbird   3       -     19     21      5    49    10
Baltimore Oriole       -       -      -      -      -     -     1
purple finch           2       4      3      1     20    15     4
house finch          606     929    645    823    469   508   424
white-winged crossbill -      cw*     -      -      -     -     -
common redpoll         -       -      -      4      -     -     -
pine siskin            -       -      -      -      2     3     -
American goldfinch   752    1038   1045    751    783  1122  1139
evening grosbeak       -       -      1      -      -     -     -
house sparrow       1485    2714   3023   2049   1078  1714  1868
  
Total # of species    74      77*    82     84     86    85    78
Total # of birds   18638   29899* 27635  25737  18752 27879 27421
   

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Greater Akron Audubon Society