Good evening, intrepid CBC participants,
All results are in, species counted, and numbers compiled. But, first, thank you to each and every one of you for the effort you put forth last Saturday to make this year’s Colorado Springs Christmas Bird Count a success. Our count circle had 159 participants(!) in the field, 10 people feeder watching, and a few people that did both. Many of you joined us for the first time. I hope you had a very positive experience, and will participate again next year. Finally, a huge thank you to Ken Pals, who has once again done the bulk of the coordinating and organizing to make the CBC run smoothly.
We found 90 species on count day, compared to 99 last year, and slightly below our average from the past 20 years (92). However, participants and other local birders added 7 additional species during count week, the most additional of any count week since 1994. Dating back to 1994, Northern Pygmy-Owl was found for only the second time on count day, Harris’s Sparrow for the fourth time (and third consecutive year), and Chihuahuan Raven, White-winged Dove (count week), Eared Grebe (cw), and Pinyon Jay (cw) for the fourth time each. We also counted a 20-year-high of 5 Northern Goshawks!
Further subdivision of the count circle allowed greater coverage of our areas, including some areas that are rarely visited for the CBC. On the other hand, there were some areas we could not access this year because of damage from the September floods (most notably, Cheyenne Canyon, Old Stage Road, and Upper Gold Camp Road). Perhaps next year we’ll be able to survey the entire circle.
I encourage all of you to get outside and watch birds, study birds, and build upon your ID skills with any chance you have in the coming year.
If you realize someone on your team did not receive this message, please pass it along. Please let me know if you have any questions. I welcome any feedback about the count as well.
Thank you,
Tyler Stuart
Colorado Springs CBC Co-Compiler