Hi Society, Christmas Bird Count Summary
We finally have the preliminary results for the 2014 Anchorage Christmas Bird Count which was held on Sunday, December 14.
President-for-Life keeps the unruly crowd at bay with his dapper delivery of the Tally Results
We’re sorry for the delay in reporting. One of the reporting areas had a software problem which corrupted their data. We suspect this was caused by North Korean hackers, and the FBI is looking into the case as this is being written.
Our Anchorage teams of Christmas Counters located 44 species of birds with one additional “count week” species (an American Wigeon) being reported. The total number of birds spotted was 10,147.
Early crowd…anxious to begin feeding…
Of the 45 species observed, 12 species were represented by only ONE individual being sighted. Bohemian Waxwings were once again the most numerous birds found. White-winged Crossbills made an impressive showing this year with 847 seen, which landed them in fifth place for numbers sighted.
The most unusual sightings this year were the Cackling Goose, the Chestnut-backed Chickadee, and the Red Crossbills. The Cackling Goose has been well substantiated, but the Chickadee and the Crossbills are being reviewed according to the standard Rare Bird procedure for the Christmas Bird Count.
Yummmmm! Chili!
Data from the Anchorage Count follows below, and is sorted according to the number of each species seen. The Tally Party and Chili Feed was a fabulous get-together, and we’d like to thanks UAA’s Mike McCormick and Dana Sample for making the evening possible. Also worthy of our highest praise are Area Leaders Thede Tobish, Aaron Bowman, Craig Wiese, Dick Prentki, and Pat Pourchot; Chief Co-ordinator Louann Feldmann; and all of the many many counters and feeder watchers who provided the data for this year’s count.
Area leader Aaron Bowman received late tally results from one his field commanders
Anchorage continues to be a Rock Star of Christmas Bird Counts. Last year, of the 2,408 count circles reporting, Anchorage had the 24th highest participation in the USA!! This is not a per capita number–it’s based on total participants. We rock, and here’s what we saw this year:
Bohemian Waxwing 6930
Black-capped Chickadee 2085
Common Redpoll 1562
Mallard 1079
White-winged Crossbill 847
Black-billed Magpie 689
Common Raven 663
Rock Pigeon 395
Pine Grosbeak 390
Red-breasted Nuthatch 356
European Starling 305
Boreal Chickadee 292
Steller’s Jay 113
Dark-eyed Junco 90
American Robin 86
Downy Woodpecker 54
American Dipper 41
Bald Eagle 24
Hairy Woodpecker 24
Red Crossbill 20
Common Goldeneye 17
Gray Jay 17
White-crowned Sparrow 9
Common Merganser 3
Red-breasted Merganser 3
Northern Shrike 3
Snow Bunting 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2
American Three-toed Woodpecker 2
Brown Creeper 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Pine Siskin 2
Cackling Goose 1
Green-winged Teal 1
Northern Goshawk 1
Great Horned Owl 1
Northern Saw-whet Owl 1
Northern Flicker 1
Northwestern Crow 1
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Varied Thrush 1
Hoary Redpoll 1
American Wigeon 1 cw