Christmas Bird Count 2022

Data compiled for Redbud’s 2022 CBC can be found below and in the February 2023 Western Grebe newsletter.

History of the Christmas Bird Count

Each December birders gather to record every individual bird and species encountered during the day. Each count group has a designated circle of 15 miles in diameter and tries to cover as much ground as possible within a certain period of time.

The Christmas Bird Count began more than a century ago when 27 conservationists in 25 localities, led by scientist and writer Frank Chapman, changed the course of ornithological history.

On Christmas Day in 1900, the small group posed an alternative to the “side hunt,” a Christmas day activity in which teams competed to see who could shoot the most birds and small mammals. Instead, Chapman proposed to identify, count, and record all the birds they saw, founding what is now considered to be the world’s most significant citizen-based conservation effort – and century-old institution.

Scientists rely on the remarkable trend data of Audubon’s CBC to better understand how birds and the environment are faring throughout North America – and what needs to be done to protect them. Data from Audubon’s signature Citizen Science program are at the heart of numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies.

With all of the issues, including climate change and habitat loss, facing both local bird species and birds worldwide, there is no time like the present to start getting involved in local bird conservation and educating yourself about the numerous bird species we have right here in Lake County; the annual Christmas Bird Count is a fun way of doing this.

The data collected by each count group are then sent to the National Audubon Headquarters in New York and is made available online.

Christmas Bird Count December 2022

By Kathy Barnwell

The data for the 48th Redbud Audubon Christmas Bird Count has been compiled and reviewed, and the total species seen on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022 remains at 131, with 26,804 birds seen.  Comparing our data with records back to 1997 (26 years), this number is a little below our average of 135 species.  Our high species count of 153 in 2007 still holds the record, with last year holding the record for our lowest count at 117.

The day started cold and clear, with little to no wind.   The low and high temperatures reported were 20 and 61 respectively.  We had 32 participants, continuing our downward trend, but our effort (birding hours) was good.  We had a total of 87.5 hours, which is close to our 26 year average of 88.425 hours.

In addition to the high numbers listed in last month’s newsletter, we reported our highest number of Ring-necked Duck (705), Green-winged Teal (74), and Common Raven (184). Canada Geese (423), Lesser Scaup (181), Hooded Mergansers (27) and Common Mergansers (1970) were the second highest numbers reported over the last 26 years.

Other low counts include the Ruby-crowned Kinglet (42) as lowest, Pied-billed Grebe (75) as second lowest, and Western Meadowlark as the third lowest numbers in 26 years.

We truly appreciate all the participants and their support and efforts in making the bird count as accurate and complete as possible.  Please join us next year for the 124th Annual Christmas Bird Count, which will be held Saturday, December 16th, 2023

SPECIES TOTAL
1 Greater White-fronted 3
2 Snow Goose 3
3 Cackling Goose 4
4 Canada Goose 423
5 Mute Swan 1
6 Wood Duck 10
7 Gadwall 17
8 American Wigeon 15
9 Mallard 660
10 Blue-winged Teal 1
11 Northern Shoveler 96
12 Green-winged Teal 74
13 Canvasback 1
14 Redhead 7
15 Ring-necked Duck 705
16 Greater Scaup 18
17 Lesser Scaup 181
Scaup Sp 3
18 Bufflehead 384
19 Common Goldeneye 92
20 Hooded Merganser 27
21 Common Merganser 1970
22 Red-breasted Merganser 2
23 Ruddy Duck 5606
24 California Quail 193
25 Ring-necked pheasant 2
26 Wild Turkey 47
27 Common Loon 4
28 Pied-billed Grebe 75
29 Horned Grebe 10
30 Eared Grebe 375
31 Western Grebe 3720
32 Clark’s Grebe 324
Aechmophorus sp. 1396
33 Double-Cr Cormorant 454
34 American White Pelican 68
35 Great Blue Heron 43
36 Great Egret 44
37 Snowy Egret 11
38 Green Heron 1
39 Black-cr  Night Heron 24
40 Turkey Vulture 94
41 Osprey 2
42 White-tailed Kite 2
43 Northern Harrier 3
44 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2
45 Cooper’s Hawk 1
46 Bald Eagle 5
47 Red-shouldered Hawk 21
48 Red-tailed Hawk* 33
49 Ferruginous Hawk 1
Buteo Sp. 1
50 American Coot 1565
51 Killdeer 65
52 Spotted Sandpiper 5
53 Greater Yellowlegs 2
54 Least Sandpiper 219
55 Long-billed Dowitcher 4
56 Wilson’s Snipe 21
57 Bonaparte’s Gull 55
58 Short-billed Gull (Mew Gull) 1
59 Ring-billed Gull 39
60 California Gull 1652
61 Herring Gull 506
62 Iceland Gull=Thayers 4
63 Glaucous-winged Gull 2
Gull sp. 98
64 Rock Pigeon 14
65 Band-tailed Pigeon 38
66 Eurasian Collared Dove 42
67 Mourning Dove 58
68 Western Screech Owl 2
69 Great Horned Owl 6
70 Northern Saw-whet Owl 1
71 Anna’s Hummingbird 37
72 Belted Kingfisher 13
73 Lewis’s Woodpecker 1
74 Acorn Woodpecker 273
75 Red-breasted Sapsucker 5
76 Nuttall’s Woodpecker 17
77 Downy Woodpecker 8
78 Northern Flicker 53
79 American Kestrel 8
80 Merlin* 2
81 Black Phoebe 44
82 Say’s Phoebe 4
83 Steller’s Jay 23
84 California Scrub-Jay 197
85 American Crow 274
86 Common Raven 184
87 Chestnut-backed Chickadee 3
88 Oak Titmouse 51
89 Bushtit 71
90 White-breasted Nuthatch 51
91 Pygmy Nuthatch 2
92 Marsh Wren 3
93 Bewick’s Wren 13
94 Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
95 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 42
96 Wrentit 15
97 Western Bluebird* 97
98 Townsend’s Solitaire 1
99 Hermit Thrush 10
100 American Robin 558
101 California Thrasher 4
102 Northern Mockingbird 48
103 European Starling 581
104 American Pipit 4
105 Cedar Waxwing 12
106 Phainopepla 8
107 Yellow-rumped (form ?) 59
Yellow-rumped (Myrtle’s) 4
Yellow-rumped(Audubon’s) 1
108 Townsend’s Warbler 2
109 Lark Sparrow 10
110 Fox Sparrow 6
111 Dark-eyed Junco – OR 130
112 White-crowned Sparrow 247
113 Golden-crowned Sparrow 275
114 White-throated Sparrow 2
115 Bell’s Sparrow 1
116 Savannah Sparrow 25
117 Song Sparrow 34
118 Lincoln’s Sparrow 2
119 California Towhee 87
120 Rufous-crowned Sparrow 1
Chipping Sparrow cw
121 Spotted Towhee 58
122 Western Meadowlark 40
123 Hooded Oriole 1
124 Red-winged Blackbird 553
125 Brewer’s Blackbird 535
126 Brown-headed Cowbird 9
127 House Finch 89
128 Lesser Goldfinch 137
129 Lawrence’s Goldfinch 1
130 American Goldfinch 16
131 House Sparrow 103
TOTAL BIRDS 26804
131 TOTAL SPECIES 131