Weather Didn’t Stop Our Christmas Bird Count

By Chris Cash, CBC Chair

Monday, December 16th dawned a cloudy, cold, and dreary day. That did not stop 35 intrepid birders from taking to the field for a day of counting birds. In the comfort of their homes, 32 (smarter?) birders counted birds at their feeders and in their yards.

For such an ugly day, it was surprising that our total numbers were in line with past years. We saw a total of 3655 birds which included 78 species.

Feeder watchers accounted for 1066 of those birds. The total number was a bit up from last year, but the species count was down. A larger than normal number of Cedar Waxwings (540 vs 101 from 2018) helped increase the total count. They were our most commonly counted bird this year

Cedar Waxwings (540 vs 101 from 2018)
Dark-eyed Juncos (331 vs 229)
American Goldfinch (327 vs 264)
American Crows (256 vs 211)
Canada Geese (199 vs 101)

Hawks were a hard species to see this year, with decreases in all numbers except for the Northern Harrier – (1 vs 0!!). Eastern Bluebirds were another species with a somewhat significant decrease (84 vs 141), but we know they like to huddle in boxes and tree holes in cold weather as opposed to crazy birders who like to be out counting in such weather...

An excellent dinner at The DeSoto Club was enjoyed by 38 birders the next evening. The compilation, as always, was lots of fun. Special thanks to Mike Cigelman for being this year’s MC for the dinner event. The food and service were excellent.

Put Monday, December 14, 2020, on your calendar for this year’s CBC. Hopefully, many more of you join us in the field and at feeders. Until then, have fun birding in 2020.