Blog | Shasta Birding Society

Get Ready for the 17th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count

By Larry Jordan on January 19, 2014 in Conservation

Lesser Goldfinch Male

New York, N.Y. and Ithaca, N.Y.—From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, bird watchers from more than 100 countries are expected to participate in the 17th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), February 14–17, 2014. Anyone anywhere in the world can count birds for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count and enter their sightings at www.BirdCount.org. The information gathered by tens of thousands of volunteers helps track the health of bird populations at a scale that would not otherwise be possible. The GBBC is a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society with partner Bird Studies Canada.

“People who care about birds can change the world,” said Audubon chief scientist Gary Langham. “Technology has made it possible for people everywhere to unite around a shared love of birds and a commitment to protecting them.”

In North America, GBBC participants will add their data to help define the magnitude of a dramatic irruption of magnificent Snowy Owls. Bird watchers will also be on the lookout for the invasive Eurasian Collared-Dove to see if it has expanded its range again. GBBC observations may help show whether or not numbers of American Crows will continue to rebound after being hit hard by the West Nile virus and whether more insect-eating species are showing up in new areas, possibly because of changing climate.

Last year’s Great Backyard Bird Count shattered records after going global for the first time, thanks to integration with the eBird online checklist program launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab and Audubon. Participants reported their bird sightings from all 7 continents, including 111 countries and independent territories. More than 34.5 million birds and 3,610 species were recorded—nearly one-third of the world’s total bird species documented in just four days.

“This is a milestone for citizen science in so many respects—number of species, diversity of countries involved, total participants, and number of individual birds recorded. We hope this is just the start of something far larger, engaging the whole world in creating a detailed annual snapshot of how all our planet’s birds are faring as the years go by,” said Cornell Lab director Dr. John Fitzpatrick.

“Canadian participation in the Great Backyard Bird Count has increased tremendously in recent years, and it’s wonderful to see this program growing globally,” said Bird Studies Canada President Dr. George Finney. “The count is introducing unprecedented numbers of people to the exciting field of bird watching.”

The Great Backyard Bird Count is a great way for people of all ages and backgrounds to connect with nature and make a difference for birds. It’s free and easy. To learn more about how to join the count visit www.birdcount.org and view the winning photos from the 2013 GBBC photo contest.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is made possible in part by sponsor Wild Birds Unlimited.
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Contacts:
Agatha Szczepaniak, Audubon, (212) 979-3197, aszczepaniak@audubon.org
Pat Leonard, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, (607) 254-2137, pel27@cornell.edu; contact for photos
Dick Cannings, Bird Studies Canada, (250) 493-3393 (West Coast time), dcannings@birdscanada.org

Fall River Mills Christmas Bird Count Results

By Larry Jordan on December 29, 2013 in Christmas Bird Counts

Sage Thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus)

Report by Bob Yutzy, Count Compiler. Click on photo for full sized image.

The final tally for the Fall River Mills CBC is 123 species! Average count is 115 for the 30 years of counting with high of 130 species and lows of 95 on two occasions. Total number of birds counted was 21,695.

Super Rare birds were:
17 Dunlin seen in 3 different areas (5th time on the count)
1 California Gull (6th time on the count)
1 Saw-whet Owl (4th time on the count)
1 Sage Thrasher (2nd time on the count)
2 White-throated Sparrow (6th time on the count)
6 Great-tailed Grackle (3rd time on the count)

New high counts of the following species:

Green-winged Teal 412 birds with previous high of 237
Hooded Merganser 174 birds with previous high of 110
Golden Eagle 8 birds with previous high of 7
Eurasian Collared Dove 258 birds with previous high of 166 (not unexpected)

Count Period birds not seen on the day of the count were:
Long-tailed Duck
Peregrine Falcon
Loggerhead Shrike

Good birds:
Tundra Swans – 5
Redhead
Greater Scaup
Barrow’s Goldeneye
Mountain Quail
Ring-necked Pheasant (absent in recent years)
Turkey
Turkey Vulture (really – generally not here in winter!)
2 Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk seen in two different areas
Rough-legged Hawk dark phase (lots of Roughies this year)
2+ Merlin
Long-billed Dowitcher
Short-eared Owl
White-headed Woodpecker
2 Northern Shrikes (1 adult & 1 imm.)
Canyon Wren
Pacific (Winter) Wren
Varied Thrush
Tri-colored Blackbird
6 Yellow-headed Blackbirds
4 Cassin’s Finches
2 Red Crossbill
Evening Grosbeak

Very high number of 27 total counters

Thanks to the land owners and land managers for allowing us access to their properties!

Many thanks to all for the great effort!!!!!!!

Wintu Audubon’s First Mini Christmas Bird Count

By Larry Jordan on December 18, 2013 in In the News

A group of six youths and thirteen adults split into three teams that scoured Turtle Bay from the Highway 44 bridge to above the Sundial. They were looking for something, and they found it in profusion: Birds! It was Wintu Audubon’s Mini Christmas Bird Count for Youth and Beginners, and December sunshine after the cold snap made for a warm show of feathered flutterings from all over the rainbow.

The three teams each took an area and tried to identify and tally every bird they found in ninety minutes of searching. They totaled 791 birds from 57 different species, from stately herons and egrets, to squabbles of ducks down from the arctic, to “now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t brushbirds who, being hungry in the leafless trees, made themselves delightfully more visible than they often do.

A few highlights: an unstately heron gulping a fish that really shouldn’t have fit. An immature bald eagle in silhouette on a snag, being harassed by a handful of half-hearted crows. A resplendent Eurasian wigeon gleaming in the sun. A brown creeper finding its insect breakfast in the fissures of oak bark. A flock of cedar waxwings enjoying wild berries along the river.

Eurasian Wigeon Drake

The species most counted, at ninety-nine, was Buffleheads, black and white diving ducks who typically nest in northern plains pothole country but come to our area for the unfrozen water in winter. The different counting teams might argue about which was the rarest bird to find in Redding in winter—perhaps the osprey, or the brown creeper or Hutton’s vireo, perhaps the Eurasian wigeon.

Bufflehead Drake

The Mini Count was part of Wintu Audubon’s Youth/Beginner Walks, which meet the second Saturday of every month at 9:00 a.m. at the Turtle Bay Monolith. Binoculars are provided. The public is invited.

Several full-day Christmas Bird Counts run in our area. See our event page for more information.

Youth/Beginner Mini Christmas Bird Count Totals:

Canada Goose 58
Wood Duck 1
Gadwall 8
American Wigeon 50
Eurasian Wigeon 1
Northern Shoveler 1
Mallard 37
Ring-necked Duck 2
Bufflehead 99
Commoon Goldeneye 51
Barrow’s Goldeneye 21
Hooded Merganser 1
Common Merganser 24
Double-crested Cormorant 19
Great Blue Heron 6
Great Egret 6
Turkey Vulture 28
Osprey 1
Bald Eagle 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Coot 88
Killdeer 7
Spotted Sandpiper 4
Gull (species unkn.) 19
Ring-billed Gull 6
Glaucous-winged Gull1
Rock Pigeon 15
Anna’s Hummingbird 5
Belted Kingfisher 2
Acorn Woodpecker 3
Red-breasted Sapsucker 1
Nuttall’s Woodpecker 3
Northern Flicker 4
Black Phoebe 5
Hutton’s Vireo 2
Western Scrub Jay 22
American Crow 51
Oak Titmouse 7
Bushtit 26
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Brown Creeper 1
Bewick’s Wren 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 9
American Robin 7
Northern Mockingbird1
European Starling 4
Cedar Waxwing 21
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 15
California Towhee 1
Song Sparrow 12
Lincoln’s Sparrow 3
Golden-crowned Sparrow 7
Red-winged Blackbird 12

Burrowing Owl Named Audubon California’s 2013 Bird of the Year!

By Larry Jordan on December 10, 2013 in Conservation, In the News

It’s official! From the California Audubon’s Press Release:

San Francisco – One of California’s most beloved owls today was named the 2013 Audubon California Bird of the Year. The Burrowing Owl – which nests underground in burrows rather than trees – received the designation after receiving more than 48 percent of votes cast during an online poll this fall.

The Burrowing Owl finds its home in dry open areas with low vegetation, sometimes in vacant properties along the urban and surburban edges where bird enthusiasts delight in watching them. However, it is exactly this type of habitat is often targeted for development, putting the Burrowing Owl in a precarious position.

More than 22,000 votes were cast in this year’s Bird of the Year poll. The Burrowing Owl finished with 48.3 percent of the votes cast. Thanks to all of you who voted for my favorite bird, the Burrowing Owl! We hope this adorable little bird will get much more attention in the coming year because of this designation.

Ross’s Geese at Sacramento National Wildife Refuge

By Larry Jordan on December 10, 2013 in National Wildlife Refuges

Every autumn, tens of thousands of Snow Geese arrive in California’s Sacramento Valley following their long journey from the Canadian Arctic (click on photos for full sized images).

Waterfowl numbers at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex may exceed two million by December, after the wetland areas of the Klamath Basin and other areas to the north become frozen. Snow and Ross’s Geese winter there in the tens of thousands.

Currently, about 95 percent of all Ross’s Geese nest in the Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary in the central Canadian Arctic. The main wintering area for Ross’s Goose (Chen rossii) is presently in the Central Valley of California, though increasing numbers winter in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas, and the north-central highlands of Mexico¹. Map courtesy of Terry Sohl at South Dakota Birds and Birding.

The Ross’s Goose is the smallest variety of the white geese that breed in North America. They look like a small Snow Goose but they have a shorter neck and a rounder head. At the base and sides of its smaller beak, the Ross’s Goose has species-specific vascular wartlike protuberances or caruncles which become more prevalent with age¹ (more apparent on full sized image).

They also lack the “grinning black lips” of their larger Snow Goose cousin.

They are fairly easy to tell apart in a mixed flock by their size and the lack of the “black grin”

Their heads are usually whiter than the larger Snow Goose at winter feeding grounds, probably because their smaller bill is adapted for feeding on short blades and shoots of grasses and sedges as opposed to the roots and tubers the larger geese dig through the mud for.