Christmas Bird Count 2017

Jan 8, 2018 by Stephanie

A congenial group of both new and long-time citizen scientist volunteers joined us on a 21-degree morning for our seventh Christmas Bird Count (CBC) in Glen Providence Park! It was hard to complain about the cold after last year’s freezing rain, and in the snowiest December I can remember in Pennsylvania, the snow-covered woods were lovely. The birds were active during the brief periods the sun came out, and then blended into the grey whenever it was overcast. As always, it was a refreshing Saturday morning in the midst of the holidays!

It was the 118th year for the CBC – the world’s longest-running Citizen Science survey! Here is our official Christmas Bird Count list for Saturday, December 16, 2017:

Canada Goose – 162
Turkey Vulture – 3
Red-tailed Hawk – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 5
Blue Jay – 5
American Crow – 3
Carolina Chickadee – 4
Tufted Titmouse – 2
White-breasted Nuthatch – 4
Carolina Wren – 4
Dark-eyed Junco – 5
White-throated Sparrow – 6
Northern Cardinal – 2
blackbird sp. – 20

And to include those birds who weren’t cooperative enough to appear on the big day, here are the additional species we saw in the Glen during Christmas Bird Count Week (from the Wednesday before to the Tuesday after the Christmas Bird Count):

Snow Goose
Mallard
Great Blue Heron
Mourning Dove
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Winter Wren
American Robin
Song Sparrow
American Goldfinch

Photos from Christmas Bird Count Week below…