Redbud Audubon’s 2017 Christmas Bird Count Results
By Kathy Barnwell
One hundred twenty-nine species of birds were seen on the Redbud Audubon 2017 Christmas Bird Count held Dec. 16, 2017. It’s the second year in a row that we did not see at least 130 species, and the fourth time in the last 20 years that our count was below 130 species. In the last 20 years the highest count was 153 in 2007, and the lowest was 122 in 2003.
The weather was cold (31 ̊) in the morning, but was mostly sunny and warmed into the 60’s by the after-noon. However, it was very windy in parts of our circle, with gusts up to 45 mph. We had 37 participants, which was the lowest since 2006, when we had 31 participants.
Despite the windy conditions, the number of birds seen was 68,301, which is the highest number since 2004 when we had 135,312.
The rare birds seen this year were the Surf Scoter, Short-eared Owl and Black-headed Grosbeak. The Owl and Scoter are extremely rare in the County, and although the Grosbeak is frequent in the spring and summer, it is extremely rare in the winter. Other rare sightings included seven Snow Geese, 12 Cackling Geese, two Barrow’s Goldeneye, four Green Herons, three Osprey, two Northern Saw-whet Owls, three Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, three Orange-crowned Warblers, and one Bell’s Sparrow.
The Western Grebe wins the prize of the highest number with 25,235 counted. However, several others had high counts, including the Ruddy Duck with 9,282; 956 Northern Shoveler; 64 Green-winged Teal; 1,055 Common Mergansers; 6,110 Clark’s Grebes; 1,500 American White Pelicans; and 3,527 California Gulls.
Lower numbers include one Greater Scaup, 43 Common Goldeneye, 68 Herring Gulls, 49 Northern Flicker, 372 American Robin, and 38 House Finches. Species usually seen but not reported this year were Golden Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Sora, Thayer’s Gull, Northern Pygmy Owl, Lewis Woodpecker, Pygmy Nuthatch and White Throated Sparrow.
We truly appreciate all the participants and their support and efforts in making the bird count as accu-rate and complete as possible. Please join us next year for National Audubon’s 119th Annual Christmas scheduled for December 16, 2018.
Summary of Christmas Bird Count December 16, 2017
1) Greater White-fronted Goose, 3
2) Snow Goose, 7
3) Cackling Goose, 12
4) Canada Goose, 272
5) Wood Duck, 11
6) Gadwall, 23
7) American Wigeon, 33
8) Mallard, 651
9) Northern Shoveler, 956
10) Green-winged Teal, 64
11) Canvasback, 8
12) Ring-necked Duck, 46
13) Greater Scaup, 1
14) Surf Scoter, 1
15) Bufflehead, 640
16) Common Goldeneye, 43
17) Barrow’s Goldeneye, 2
18) Hooded Merganser, 2
19) Common Merganser, 1,055
20) Ruddy Duck, 9,282
21) California Quail, 143
22) Ring-necked Pheasant, 1
23) Wild Turkey, 45
24) Common Loon, 4
25) Pied-billed Grebe, 96
26) Horned Grebe, 25
27) Eared Grebe, 860
28) Western Grebe, 25,235
29) Clark’s Grebe, 6,110
30) Western/Clark’s Grebe, 4,241
31) Double-crested Cormorant, 302
32) American White Pelican, 1,500
33) Great Blue Heron (Blue form), 34
34) Great Egret, 35
35) Snowy Egret, 3
36) Green Heron, 4
37) Black-crowned Night-Heron, 14
38) Turkey Vulture, 217
39) Osprey, 3
40) White-tailed Kite, 6
41) Northern Harrier, 4
42) Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1
43) Cooper’s Hawk, 2
44) Bald Eagle, 4
45) Red-shouldered Hawk, 15
46) Red-tailed Hawk, 38
47) Ferruginous Hawk, 2
48) Virginia Rail, 1
49) American Coot, 1,100
50) Killdeer, 30
51) Spotted Sandpiper, 3
52) Wilson’s Snipe, 2
53) Bonaparte’s Gull, 716
54) Ring-billed Gull, 23
55) California Gull, 3,527
56) Herring Gull, 68
57) Glaucous-winged Gull, 1
58) gull sp., 2,432
59) Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon), 51
60) Eurasian Collared-Dove, 90
61) Mourning Dove, 100
62) Barn Owl, 1
63) Western Screech-Owl, 3
64) Great Horned Owl, 5
65) Short-eared Owl, 1
66) Northern Saw-whet Owl, 2
67) Anna’s Hummingbird, 49
68) Belted Kingfisher, 11
69) Acorn Woodpecker, 130
70) Red-breasted Sapsucker, 6
71) Nuttall’s Woodpecker, 31
72) Downy Woodpecker, 8
73) Hairy Woodpecker, 2
74) Northern Flicker, 49
75) Pileated Woodpecker, 1
76) American Kestrel, 15
77) Merlin, 3
78) Black Phoebe, 47
79) Say’s Phoebe, 4
80) Steller’s Jay, 18
81) Western Scrub-Jay, 137
82) American Crow, 215
83) Common Raven, 209
84) Tree Swallow, 2
85) Chestnut-backed Chickadee, 10
86) Oak Titmouse, 73
87) Bushtit, 213
88) Red-breasted Nuthatch, 2
89) White-breasted Nuthatch, 45
90) Brown Creeper, 6
91) Marsh Wren, 3
92) Bewick’s Wren, 20
93) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, 3
94) Golden-crowned Kinglet, 5
95) Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 92
96) Wrentit, 10
97) Western Bluebird, 148
98) Hermit Thrush, 3
99) American Robin, 372
100) Varied Thrush, 5
101) California Thrasher, 2
102) Northern Mockingbird, 26
103) European Starling, 2,069
104) American Pipit, 13
105) Cedar Waxwing, 2
106) Phainopepla, 4
107) Orange-crowned Warbler, 3
108) Yellow-rumped Warbler, 62
109) Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s), 2
110) Townsend’s Warbler, 7
111) Lark Sparrow, 40
112) Fox Sparrow, 12
113) Dark-eyed Junco, 327
114) White-crowned Sparrow, 235
115) Golden-crowned Sparrow, 446
116) Bell’s Sparrow (belli), 1
117) Savannah Sparrow, 4
118) Song Sparrow, 35
119) Lincoln’s Sparrow, 2
120) California Towhee, 85
121) Spotted Towhee, 43
122) Black-headed Grosbeak, 1
123) Red-winged Blackbird, 296
124) Western Meadowlark, 76
125) Brewer’s Blackbird, 772
126) Brown-headed Cowbird, 2
127) blackbird sp., 110
128) House Finch, 38
129) Purple Finch, 6
130) Pine Siskin, 15
131) Lesser Goldfinch, 334
132) American Goldfinch, 37
133) House Sparrow, 35
