The Christmas Bird Count

In the year 1900 Frank Chapman initiated the tradition of counting birds during the Christmas season. This was an act of conservation value, as it intentionally challenged the popular practice of the Christmas Hunt, a popular competition to kill the most birds using shotguns. Today marks the last day of the 123rd annual Christmas Bird Count sponsored by the National Audubon Society. The counts are held over a 3-week period, and account for a significant portion of December and January birding, which is generally depressed in the cold gray winter months of the Northern Hemisphere. I have been participating in these counts for the last 45 years or so, and for many years I served as compiler for the counts in Fort Collins and Loveland, Colorado. While the birds tallied during these counts seem mundane, on occasion rarities appear and are subsequently sought by birders and listers as well as by Big Year competitors. This Christmas Season, I participated in four local counts: Fort Collins on Dec 18, Rawhide Energy Plant on Dec 31, Loveland On Jan 1 and Rocky Mountain National Park on Jan 4. During the two counts held in January, I tallied 65 species of birds, and that is where my current Biggest Year list stands. Most of these are common species that I will see many times during the course of my Big Year competition. Several are rare birds in winter, representing unusual species for January in northern Colorado, such as Common Loon and Eared Grebe observed at Carter Lake in Loveland. Some of these species were unusual for Colorado and are not seen in the state annually, like a flock of 81 Bohemian Waxwing that appeared in a residential neighborhood in Loveland (see photo). A Lapland Longsur at Prairie Ridge Open Space in Loveland represents a challenge to observe each year in Larimer County (they are much more common farther east on the plains of Colorado in winter). One species tallied which may not be reliably encountered anywhere I plan to visit this year was Pinyon Jay. These are nomadic birds of the Wild West and I was fortunate to stumble on a flock of 25 birds in the lower foothills of Loveland thanks to a tip from local birder Irene Fortune. [The Pinyon Jay has experienced precipitous population declines in recent decades; your observations of these birds may contribute to conservation action for the Pinyon Jay. For more info see www.cobirds.org]. During my upcoming travels to southern California and south Texas, I will certainly be chasing rarities first discovered during Christmas Bird Counts. These important counts will play a crucial role in my Biggest Year attempt again at the end of 2023, as they will detect new vagrants or local rarities that I will be able to add to my list before the year ends. To join me on a Biggest Year tour, consult my tour schedule for itinerary and availability, at https://pbase.com/quetzal/bigyear.