count, and over the last five years, end- three white ... · with 106 birds recorded on two count...
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count, and over the last five years, end-ing this season, the consecutive numbersrecorded were seven, 122, 229, 370, and711. The count circles recording thisnewcomer went from two to 14. Therecord is similar in Utah where theywere also first recorded on the 103rdcount with consecutive numbers of indi-viduals at 25, 48, 210, 473, and 1160;counts increased from five to 13 circles.This trend is taking place nationwide,with 106 birds recorded on two countcircles in the 87th count and 29,401birds on 490 count circles in the 106th.I’m sure, when all the data are in, thenumber this season will be even higher.
Following are a few other interestingtidbits for Wyoming this season. Casperpicked up the recent name change whenthe Blue Grouse species was split intotwo species, the Sooty and Dusky grouse.Casper was the only Wyoming countreporting Dusky Grouse, and they werealso the only count to observe TurkeyVultures. Wild Turkey habitat must beimproving, as the population trend isincreasing for both states. This year,Wyoming reported a record number of925 turkeys. Utah didn’t surpass the106th CBC record, but still had a highnumber of 663. The “southern speciesvisiting Wyoming” award goes to the
three White-winged Doves on theGuernsey-Ft. Laramie count. Six MarshWrens were recorded this year. Fivecount circles combined to record 114Mountain Bluebirds. Numbers of HouseSparrows and Canada Geese remainabout the same with 11,323 HouseSparrows and 10,342 Canada Geese. Intotal biomass, the geese win easily.
In Utah, 181 species were recorded inthe 107th count. Included were 28species of waterfowl, five gallinaceousspecies, 15 raptors, seven gulls, 14 spar-rows, and eight owls. I’ve noted somecompetition among the birders in Utahto get the highest number of species ontheir CBC. The Logan, Provo, and St.George circles usually end up with thehighest species counts. This year, thethree high count circles came in at 100,97, and 96 (you know who you are). Wewelcome back Bryce Canyon NationalPark, a circle that hasn’t been active since1969. There have been some “seeds”planted to increase the CBC coverage inUtah; I hope a few of these germinatebecause we have coverage gaps in thenorthwest corner of the state, in HeberValley, in the Duschesne River Valley,around Price, and around Green River.
Some interesting tidbits for this yearinclude the Surf Scoter and four species
of wrens on the Antelope Island count.Bear River Refuge had an interestingyear with 7251 Tundra Swans as well asCinnamon Teal, American WhitePelican, and Marbled Godwit. At 17,Fish Springs had a record number ofparticipants. (Don’t laugh; this is aremote area.) They had a good countthat included 5894 waterfowl of 12species, an American Bittern, and aGreat Egret. Chipping Sparrows wereonly found on three counts, with 49 ofthe 56 at Kanab. Logan participantslogged 844 party miles in their 15-milediameter circle to see, among otherspecies, 2487 waterfowl of 15 species,seven species of owls, and six species ofgulls. For the first time in 11 years, theymissed the Northern Pintail, butrecorded high counts (one standarddeviation above the mean) for a dozenspecies. With 7084 individuals of 21species, Salt Lake City had the bestwaterfowl count, plus they celebratedwith a Swainson’s Hawk, a Bonaparte’sGull, and some Great-tailed Grackles.Zion National Park and Loganobservers both located Varied Thrush,which is a great find in Utah. This wasone of the few count years not record-ing a Bohemian Waxwing, but the 1266Cedar Waxwings recorded was abovethe 20-year average of 1052 per year.Maybe a trend is developing for oddcount-year numbers—the other twoseasons with no Bohemian Waxwingsrecorded were the 101st and 103rd.There were 22 Greater Roadrunnersobserved on six counts, with the highcount at Zion. I was impressed with the114 Mountain Bluebirds recorded inWyoming, but the 2214 bluebirds in 11circles in Utah proved even better.
COLORADO Brandon K. Percival835 Harmony Drive
Pueblo West, Colorado 81007
The Colorado Christmas Bird Countseason was difficult for birders becauseof the weather. Two blizzards shut downhighways around the state, and the
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Count circles inWYOMING/UTAH
lousy weather conditions forced severalcounts to be postponed once or eventwice. Despite the problems, 40 countswere submitted in Colorado during the107th count.
A total of 201 species was recorded inColorado, two higher than last year.Pueblo Reservoir had the highest tally,finding 124. Other counts reaching the100-species mark were Boulder (107),Denver (105), John Martin Reservoir(105), Colorado Springs (103), andPenrose (101). The two lower ArkansasValley counts had the most birds: JohnMartin Reservoir (110,599) and RockyFord (53,439). The large numbers ofSnow and Ross’s geese on these twocounts make up a significant proportionof the total birds counted. Severalcounts had both unusual number andvariety of waterfowl, and many CBCsalso recorded record high numbers of allthree species of bluebirds.
State rarities found included TrumpeterSwan (Loveland, Pueblo, and Salida),count week Tundra Swan (Greeley),Eurasian Wigeon (Rocky Ford), Gyrfalcon(North Park), Mew Gull and Great Black-backed Gull (Pueblo Reservoir), VariedThrush (Penrose), and Golden-crownedSparrow (Delta and Longmont).
Other highlights included Blue-winged Teal (Delta and Denver Urban),Surf Scoter (John Martin Reservoir),count week Pacific Loon and Red-necked Grebe (Denver), Sora (JohnMartin Reservoir and Longmont),Spotted Sandpiper (Penrose and PuebloReservoir), Least Sandpiper (PuebloReservoir), Glaucous Gull (PuebloReservoir), Band-tailed Pigeon (Pikes
Peak), White-winged Dove (PuebloReservoir and Rocky Ford), Red-napedSapsucker (Lake Isabel and count weekat Penrose), Black Phoebe (PuebloReservoir), Barn Swallow (Durango),Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (John MartinReservoir), Hermit Thrush (BonnyReservoir and Grand Junction), GrayCatbird (Penrose), Nashville Warbler(Pueblo Reservoir), Common Yellowthroat(Colorado Springs), Green-tailed Towhee(Denver), Chipping Sparrow (Great SandDunes National Monument and Salida),Lark Bunting (Pueblo), SavannahSparrow (Pueblo Reservoir), Fox Sparrow(Bonny Reservoir and Greeley), McCown’sLongspur (Denver), Northern Cardinal(count week Colorado Springs and LakeIsabel), and Yellow-headed Blackbird(John Martin Reservoir and MonteVista National Wildlife Refuge).
Northern invading species didn’tinvade too much; the tally included29 Bohemian Waxwings (GrandJunction and Spanish Peaks oncount day), a Common Redpoll(Bonny Reservoir), and a White-winged Crossbill (Gunnison).
A few other species were seen on onlyone Colorado count this year: Chukar(Delta), Gunnison Sage-Grouse(Gunnison), Sharp-tailed Grouse(Steamboat Springs), American Three-
toed Woodpecker (Rocky MountainNP), Sage Thrasher (Pueblo Reservoir),and Rufous-crowned Sparrow (Penrose).
A total of 3417 Eurasian Collared-Doveswere found on 34 of the 40 ColoradoCBCs. This species, first seen in the statein 1996, has fully invaded nearly theentire state. Birders should check care-fully for White-winged Doves that seemto be with Eurasian Collared-Dovesduring the winter and at other seasons.
Owl numbers were fairly good, thanksto the observers who went out extra hoursat night; with more nocturnal birdingthese tallies could be even higher! Thetotals were five Barn, 45 WesternScreech-, nine Eastern Screech, 190Great Horned, 14 Northern Pygmy, 31Long-eared, two Short-eared, and threeNorthern Saw-whet. We hope more peo-ple will get out on future CBCs to find
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Count circles inCOLORADO
Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus),Pueblo Reservoir, Colorado.Photo/Brandon Percival
Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius),Pueblo Reservoir, Colorado.Photo/Brandon Percival
owls and other night birds (rails callmore at night as well).
I want to thank all the compilers andobservers for their hard work. One thingthat came up while I was editing thecounts is that some compilers use just“Green-winged Teal,” and some use“American Green-winged Teal.” I hopefrom now on all compilers will use theAmerican Green-winged Teal listingrather than the undifferentiated option,since the Eurasian Green-winged (or“Common”) Teal would be an exception-al rarity in Colorado. Thanks and have agreat 108th Christmas Bird Count.
NEW MEXICOJohn W. Shipman507 Fitch Avenue NW
Socorro, NM 87801
This was a winter that put our volun-teers to the test. Two major snowstormshit during the CBC period, leading tothe cancellation of three active circles—Clayton, Maxwell, and Pecos. Manyother circles reported low effort andspecies totals due to the snow cover.Albuquerque had two feet of snow, quiteout of the ordinary for this locality!
We censused 30 circles this year, downfrom last year’s 34. In addition to thethree cancelled by weather, the ClabberHill circle, all on private land, lost accessand will not be run again.
The statewide species total was alsodown, to 229, compared to last year’s244. Eight counts had more than 100species: Bosque del Apache with 125 wasthe leader, followed by Las Cruces with120, Peloncillos with 119, and bothAlbuquerque and Caballo with 114.
The total of about 415,000 individu-als statewide was comparable to lastyear’s 430,000. Circles with the highestcounts of individuals included Bosquedel Apache with about 90,000, Roswellwith 64,000, Farmington with 45,000,and Las Cruces with 34,000.
Two new species were added to the all-time cumulative state CBC checklist,bringing the total to 326. Dusky Grousewas a first in the Angel Fire-Eagle Nest circle.
Dave Cleary reports that the grouse typi-cally winter in snow-covered areas, and thelack of previous reports in this circle is dueto the absence of bird-aware snowmobil-ers, cross-country skiers, or feederwatchersin the high country. The other newspecies is Crested Caracara, photographedin the Peloncillos circle; there are only ahandful of records in the state.
Looking at species that seem to beranging further north in winter,Sevilleta had a Harris’s Hawk, andSandhill Cranes were more widespread,ranging to the Española, Loving, andOrilla Verde circles. Short-eared Owlrecords were reported from three circles,with an impressive four in thePeloncillos. Chipping Sparrows werewidespread, ranging even to the Dixonand Farmington circles.
Among birds usually gone from thestate in winter, both the Lakes Avalon-Brantley and Loving circles had singleOspreys. The Peloncillos had a “WesternFlycatcher.”
The inexorable march of EurasianCollared-Doves continued, new to sixcount circles, even to the Angel Fire cir-cle at 8200 feet altitude. They wereabsent from only two circles: La Luz-Otero, which had a first report last year,and Chaco National Monument, thesole remaining holdout. I’ve been won-dering whether these doves woulddisplace White-winged or Mourningdoves, but reports of both these specieswere also generally higher.
Vermilion Flycatcher reports were at anall-time statewide high with 17 in six cir-cles, beating the previous statewide highof eight set seven years ago. Sparrownumbers were high, probably due to agood fall rainy season in the south andeast. Las Cruces reported an astonishing30 Bronzed Cowbirds from one cow lot.
The one clear case of a lowland inva-sion this year was the sudden appearanceof many Juniper Titmice in the RioGrande Valley.
Finally, a few rarities deserve mention.Single Mew Gulls appeared in theCaballo and Farmington circles. JohnParmeter did his usual great job of writ-
ing up a Ruddy Ground-Dove in thePeloncillos. The Pine Warbler in theDixon circle was backed up with severalclear photos. Lakes Avalon-McMillanprovided good details for their Le Conte’sSparrow sighting, the first CBC recordin 35 years. Single Golden-crownedSparrows were reported from three circles.
See http://www.nmt.edu/~shipman/z/cbc/nmcbc.html for compiler resourcesand photographic documentation.
NEVADA/ARIZONASteve Ganley3134 East McKellips, No. 65
Mesa, AZ 85213
For the 107th Christmas Bird Countseason 12 counts were held in Nevada.Most years Truckee Meadows leads thestate in number of species seen, but thisyear they were tied by Henderson, bothwith 105 species. The weather didn’tseem to slow Carson City down at all,and they came in with 98 species, whichblew away the previous high by 11species! Both Muddy River and Fallonhad 89 species. Pyramid Lake was rightbehind with 88, which was five speciesmore than their previous high count(they had good weather and were able toget a boat out this year).
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Count circles inNEW MEXICO
Some of the interesting species foundon the counts included a Tundra Swan,one of four new species found on theMuddy River count. Ash Meadows hadthe only Ross’s Goose, and Hendersonrecorded the only Cackling Geese. AEurasian Green-winged Teal was an inter-esting find on Truckee Meadows, and aWhite-tailed Kite was seen by many bird-ers at Fallon. Pyramid Lake had the onlyRed-shouldered Hawk. A Pacific Loonwas a great new bird for Ash Meadows,and a Red-necked Grebe was recorded atPyramid Lake. Eurasian Collared-Dovesand Great-tailed Grackles continued toexpand in Nevada, and the grackles werenew to the Carson City and Snake Valleylists. The Eurasian Collared-Doves werenew for Henderson and Ash Meadows.Pyramid Lake had a Mew Gull and aGlaucous-winged Gull, and Carson Cityhad new-to-the-count Williamson’sSapsucker and Black-backed Woodpeckers.Once again it was a great year by bothcompilers and participants on thecounts. Thank you all!
There were 34 counts held in Arizonafor the 107th Christmas Bird Count sea-son. That figure includes a new count,the Appleton-Whittell Circle. The cen-ter of the circle is east of Audubon’sAppelton-Whittell Research Ranch andincludes a section of Fort Huachuca, theoutskirts of Huachuca City andWhetstone, the Mustang MountainRange, and lots of grasslands.
The weather this year was very goodfor most counts. There was very littlerain and the temperatures were quitewarm on many counts, with Avra Valleyrecording a high of 82 degreesFahrenheit. This year the average num-ber of species was up, with 25 of the 34counts recording 100 species or more.Ramsey Canyon maintains a strangle-hold on the most species with 154, butGreen Valley-Madera Canyon was rightbehind at 150 species. The Phoenix-TresRios count had 143, and Tucson Valleyrecorded 142. Five counts were in the130s, including Phoenix Salt-Verde at139, Patagonia at 139, Gila River at138, Nogales at 136, and Portal at 133.
Quite a few interesting birds werefound on Arizona counts this year. BlueGeese are rare in Arizona, and one wasrecorded on the Elfrida count. Therecently split Cackling Goose was record-ed on the Tres Rios Count. Tundra Swanshad a good showing with nine birdsspread over four counts. The onlyEurasian Wigeon was on the Salt-Verdecount. There were several great water-birds found along the Colorado River; afew of those were count week birds butstill represent species hard to come by inArizona. The Bill Williams count record-ed a Surf Scoter, Long-tailed Duck,Red-necked Grebe, and count week Red-throated and Yellow-billed loons.Martinez-Lake Yuma also had a countweek Red-necked Grebe as well as theever-elusive count week Heermann’sGull. Two other counts had Long-tailedDucks: Glen Canyon and Tucson Valley.Least Bitterns seem to be increasing in win-ter, with 18 birds spread over four counts.
White-tailed Kites are cyclical in theiroccurrence, but this year they were ingood numbers with 19 kites on six countsand one count week bird. One Red-shouldered Hawk was noted as expectedon the Hassayampa count, and a GrayHawk was at Patagonia. Hummingbirdshave been wintering in increasing varietyover the last few years, and for this year’sCBC Arizona’s first-documented Allen’sHummingbird was photographed on theRamsey Canyon count.
Mountain Chickadees are not rare inArizona, but the three that were foundon the Portal CBC in the ChiricahuaMountains were out of range. This areais where the Mexican Chickadee is nor-mally the only species found. WinterWrens seem to be on the increase onArizona CBCs; 18 were found on 10CBCs this season. It wasn’t a big seasonfor unusual warblers, but counts seem tobe recording more Wilson’s Warbler (5)and even MacGillivray’s Warblers (1)
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Count circles inNEVADA/ARIZONA
than in the past. Normally in Arizonayou have a better chance of finding aneastern species on a count than a com-mon local species. Lawrence’sGoldfinches were around all winter andfound on 12 counts this year.
I would like to thank all compilers andparticipants for the effort and time theygave for the Arizona CBCs this year.
WASHINGTON/OREGONMike Patterson1338 Kensington Avenue
Astoria, OR 97103
Weather was much colder than averagefor the 107th Christmas Bird Count peri-od. The usually temperate west side of theCascades reported daytime temperaturesin the upper 30s. A severe storm blewthrough days before the official countperiod bringing wind gusts exceeding100 miles per hour to some coastal loca-tions and gusts to 50 miles per hourinland. The high winds knocked downtrees, blocked roads, and left many com-munities without electricity for severaldays. This resulted in lower than averageobserver turnout in several of the morerural counts conducted in the first week-end of the count period.
This was not a year for remarkablyrare species. A well-described Thick-billed Murre was reported fromSequim-Dungeness, WA, and a Black-footed Albatross made a count weekappearance at Coos Bay, OR. A Black-headed Gull reported from Kitsap, WA,remained for most of the winter and waswell documented and photographed.The Whooper Swan reported for countweek at Skagit Bay, WA, is presumed tobe the same individual that was alsorecorded at Edmonds, given that thetwo counts are only about 30 miles apartas the swan flies.
It was an invasion year for winterfinches. Extralimital Pine Grosbeaksbegan appearing in late November atseveral locations in the coast range. Bycount period, at least one bird wasbeing regularly reported in the WestHills of Portland, OR, though it man-
aged to evade counters on count dayand appears there as a count week bird.Pine Grosbeaks were reported on 13Washington counts, including severalreported west of the Cascades, mostnotably a well-photographed bird atLeadbetter Point on the southWashington coast. Common Redpollswere also unusually conspicuous on thewest side of the Cascades; they werereported throughout the Puget Soundin Washington and along the coast asfar south as Coos Bay, OR.
It was also an invasion year forEurasian Collared-Doves, which werereported from multiple counts and insignificant numbers. Last year they werereported from a single circle; this yearfour Washington counts and sevenOregon counts reported the species.Curiously, there did not appear to beany kind of directional pattern that
might explain the origin of the increasein sightings. Given the phenomenalirruption of Snowy Owls last season,one might have predicted an echo flightof this species this season, but only threebirds were noted on counts regionwide,
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Count circles inWASHINGTON/OREGON
Washington detail
all in Washington, two of these east ofthe Cascades where they are nearlyannual in the winter.
An overwintering White-faced Ibiswas reported at Malheur NationalWildlife Refuge, OR, which is notparticularly surprising given the expo-nential increase in number of breedingibis at this location over the last 15 years.A well-described Black-legged Kittiwakeat Medford, OR, was probably driveninland by the severe winds, as were thenormally deep-water pelagic TuftedPuffins reported from Coos Bay. Therange expansion of Black Phoebe con-tinues with a bird photographed atSatsop, WA. This species was recordedfor the second time at Tillamook, OR,and is now routinely found at manylocations in the Willamette Valley.Those noticing the presence of Wrentitamong the Washington counts need notpanic; this represents an eastward rangeexpansion along the Oregon side of theColumbia River to Brownsmead, whichis part of the Wahkiakum, WA, countcircle and represents one of several bi-state counts along the river.
A total of 42 Washington counts and41 Oregon counts were conducted thisseason. Coos Bay once again tallied thehighest species count with 161. Sequim-Dungeness recorded 145 species,followed by Tillamook at 138 and GraysHarbor at 131. High counts east of theCascades included Tri-Cities, WA, with112 species, Klamath Falls, OR, with 111species, and Lyle, WA, with 101 species.
Once again species were generally welldocumented. Conscientious compilers
continue to send in documentation evenfor species that require none. About halfof all documentation sent in this seasonwas via the Internet, including manydigital photographs. As always, I appre-ciate the effort counters put intoproviding drawings and photographs,which help speed the process of editing.Noteworthy photos not already men-tioned include a Northern Mockingbirdat Wahkiakum, WA, the Black Phoebeat Satsop, WA, and the Red-shoulderedHawk at Summer Lake, WA. TheNorthern Pygmy-Owl photos fromColville, WA, were especially fun to lookat. I’m taking the photographer’s wordthat there’s actually an owl in the photoamid the tangle of shrubbery.
CALIFORNIAKelli Levinson1819 Locust Ravine
Bakersfield, Ca 93306
John C. Wilson1425 Alta Vista Drive
Bakersfield, CA 93309
Californians completed 113 countsduring the 2006–2007 Christmas BirdCount season, the same number as lastyear. Unlike last year, weather did notappear to adversely affect the majority ofcounts. A sprinkling of counts reportedlight rain at some point during theircount, but just three compilers reportedheavy rain, and nearly 90 percent ofcounts reported no precipitation what-soever. Skill, coverage, and luckconverged for Santa Barbara, which far
surpassed other counts in tallying 224species; Moss Landing came in secondwith 209 species. Point Reyes again ledthe effort in participants, putting 213counters in the field. Oakland was notfar behind with 210. The Sonoma ValleyCBC was new this year and we welcomethem. The highlights of California’s107th CBC season follow.
Though there have been several blue-morph Ross’s Geese in the state thiswinter, just one was found on counts, abird at Peace Valley. Eurasian Wigeonnumbers were slightly higher than thelast five years, with 140 reported on 38counts; additionally, five Eurasian xAmerican Wigeon hybrids were report-ed. It is interesting to note that whileEurasian Wigeon numbers haveclimbed considerably in the state overthe last 30 years, hybrid American xEurasian Wigeon numbers haveremained quite constant, with mostyears none getting reported; occasional-ly two to three are reported, but neverhas the number gone above five.Centerville Beach to King Salmon andMoss Landing each reported Common(Eurasian Green-winged) Teal; threeothers were reported but without sup-porting evidence. Two Tufted Duckswere reported, an adult male from EastContra Costa County and another fromClear Lake. Twelve Harlequin Duckswere reported—five from Del Norteand the others scattered in ones andtwos across coastal counts. Ten Long-tailed Ducks were found: three at PointReyes, two at Centerville Beach to KingSalmon, and singles at Crystal Springs,Del Norte, Moss Landing, MendocinoCoast, and Oceanside-Vista.
A Blue-footed Booby, currently underreview by the California Bird RecordsCommittee (CBRC), was seen by manythis winter and was present on theSalton Sea (south) count. A BrownBooby, also under review by the CBRC,made appearances around MontereyPeninsula for the winter and was seen oncount day. Conservatively, five ReddishEgrets were found—three in San Diegoand two on the Orange County (coastal)
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Banded Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus) with Trumpeters (Cygnus buccinator), EastLake Washington, Washington. Photo/Hugh Jennings