The 117th Christmas Bird Count Summary

Last year, as the summer and fall progressed and the 117^th Christmas Bird Count season approached, many CBC participants felt a heightened sense of anticipation. Much of North American had been far warmer than “usual” (whatever counts as “usual” these days), with some regions having the warmest seasons on record. And though precipitation levels varied—ongoing drought in the southern Pacific Coast and Southwest, deepening drought in the Northeast, and record rainfall in the Pacific Northwest—birders across the continent reported a plethora of out-of-range birds and lingering Neotropical migrants. The hopes, and perhaps even expectations, for many CBC participants were for a warm, dry, and rarity-filled season!

Mother Nature had other ideas.

On the first week of the count period, the bottom fell out. Winter storms ravaged much of the northern two-thirds of the continent, severely affecting the crucial first weekend of the count period on December 17^th and 18^th. Many folks’ CBC travel plans were dashed (mine included) and many counts were postponed. Some we even cancelled outright. The loss of this first weekend in the 117^th CBC was especially challenging this season, as the holidays fell on both of the other weekends in the count period.

Yet, as always seems to happen with the Christmas Bird Count, we persevered and, in the end, completed another highly successful season. Despite the challenges, participants unearthed some surprising rarities, partially because changeable conditions force us to pay more attention to our routes, carefully scouring the countryside for birds rather than going placidly from usual spot to usual spot. And those changing conditions also move birds around too—as many of us discovered this CBC season!

And now, for some results. For the eighth straight season a record number of counts were submitted to the Audubon database—2,536 counts (447 in Canada, 1,933 in the United States, and 156 Latin America, Caribbean, Pacific Islands) are included in the 117^th Christmas Bird Count database. This breaks last season’s one-year-wonder record by 31 circles, even though, for the first time in decades, no counts are included from the French islands of St.-Pierre et Miquelon off the coast of Atlantic Canada. The weather was just too severe for them to conduct either of their CBCs.

The 65 new counts (11 in Canada, 36 in the United States, and 18 in the Caribbean and Latin America) are listed in Table 1. It is exciting to note the 11 “new” counts included some from Kentucky; these are circles that have been run for some time but only submitted to the Audubon database beginning this season. There are also six new counts in Ecuador, greatly increasing the coverage of CBCs in the incredibly biodiverse Amazon region of that country. Welcome aboard!

Despite the record number of counts, the number of observers in the 117^th CBC fell slightly below last season’s record level, with a still-lofty total of 73,153 observers. Of those, 62,677 were in field parties and 10,476 were at feeders. By country, 55,882 were in the United States (49,221 afield, 6,661 at feeders); 13,945 were in Canada (10,169 in the field and 3,776 at feeders); and 3,326 (3,287 field observers and 39 at feeders) in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Pacific Islands. You might well wonder how so many more counts in the 117^th season can still include fewer observers, and the answer lies in the limiting factors of the widespread inclement weather on the first weekend (traditionally the busiest time in the CBC period) and scheduling challenges for the remaining two weekends. Many of the larger counts, though still well attended, had fewer participants than usual. Also, some of the increase in number of counts was from the large roster of new circles, which are often started with relatively low attendance. But still, of course, there were plenty of counts with 100 or more participants, all gratefully listed in Table 2.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the weather, the overall number of birds tallied in the 117^th CBC was on the low end of the spectrum—56,139,812 individuals (52,245,222 in the United States, 3,358,376 in Canada, and 536,214 elsewhere). It is important to remember that species forming winter roosts can play a large role in the number of birds tallied; if the roosts are within count circles the numbers jump, sometimes by an order of magnitude. In the 117^th Count there were no mega-roosts included in count circles; blackbirds, grackles, cowbirds, and starlings were all counted in the millions, but not in the tens (or hundreds!) of millions. But the total number of species included annually in the Christmas Bird Count continues to grow as we add more and more coverage in Latin America. In the 117^th CBC a spectacular total of 2,636 and 401 forms was tallied, up by about 30 from last season. Of those, 641 species and 58 forms were tallied in circles in the United States, 278 species and 30 forms in Canada; these numbers are included of course in the overall 2,636 species list. New to the 117 season cumulative list in the United States were two species and one form; Marsh Sandpiper at Moloka'i: Kualapu'u, Hawaii, Amazon Kingfisher at Laredo, Texas, and Yellow (Mangrove) Warbler at Coastal Tip, Texas. New to Canada (and the entire CBC database) was the Red-flanked Bluetail at Comox, British Columbia and the Lesser Goldfinch Merritt, British Columbia.

One measure of success of a Christmas Bird Count is the number of species seen on count day. We all know that the overall value of the CBC is in the “everyday” birds we tally as we are out and about, but it’s the draw of rarities and competitive nature of elevated species totals that adds spice to our counts. Species available to be tallied on CBCs vary widely of course; those in the far north are elated to break double digits in their totals, while those on the slopes of the Andes may be disappointed not to hit 500. Table 3 is the full list of counts in the 117^th CBC blessed with geographic location and ecological diversity enough to tally 150 or more species on count day.

And speaking of those species totals, we not only compete with ourselves to best our previous record high but, in the spirit of good-natured competition with neighboring counts, we always hope to achieve the top tally in our region. Table 4 contains the list of high species totals for all regions submitted in the 117^th CBC. Congratulations to each and every participant and compiler on every count submitted this season. This was a herculean job well done—whether your count appears in any of these tables or not!

So with all that coverage and effort and attention by human observers, what did the birds seem to be doing during the 117^th Christmas Bird Count? As expected given the somewhat dismal “winter finch forecast,” most irruptive species stayed north in droves. Crossbills, redpolls, siskins, and grosbeaks were predominantly nowhere to be found south of their normal breeding haunts. Even Purple Finches stayed north, with lower than expected numbers tallied over much of the United States. The one irruptive species that did make somewhat of a movement was Red-breasted Nuthatch, with modest numbers getting southward to the Southeastern states and Gulf Coast, but it certainly was not a record flight by any measure. Boreal finches including crossbills, redpolls, grosbeaks, and Purple Finches stayed north, where food crops remained high. Winter frugivores—Pine Grosbeaks and Bohemian Waxwings—also stayed north. And there was a dearth of boreal raptors in most regions during the 117^th CBC.

On the flip side of the coin, many “southern” species continue to spread northward. Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks are significantly increasing in the Southeastern states, and the Eurasian Collared-Dove continues its northwestward march of colonization. Interestingly, the collared-doves are declining significantly in the root area of their push, in Florida. It will be fascinating to follow the flow and ebb of this species across the continent.

Many southern species are well-studied as we follow their northward march over the decades—Red-bellied Woodpecker, Carolina Wren, Northern Mockingbird, Tufted Titmouse, and Northern Cardinal all come to mind. It’s interesting to note another species that is well tracked as it moved northward over the past 50 years—Mourning Dove. Take a look at CBC results from the northern tier of states and southern provinces—Mourning Doves were not a presence there until the 1960s, and it was only in the 1970s that their numbers really took off on Christmas Bird Counts. The ability to recognize and track species’ movements on a population level is just one of the many beauties of the Christmas Bird Count database.

Speaking of avian success stories, it is interesting to follow the trends in the occurrence of many species of Arctic-breeding geese. Numbers of Snow Geese have been dramatically increasing for the past couple of decades, and as colonial nesters and grazers in the Arctic this species is causing significant damage to the tundra, quite to the detriment of other tundra-nesting species of shorebirds and songbirds. Additionally, with later and less complete freeze-up of waterways in southern Canada and the northern tier of the United States, Snow Geese are lingering northward in large numbers well above their “traditional” early winter ranges. Other geese have followed suit as well—Ross’s and Greater White-fronted goose reports are increasing dramatically in the east, as well as Greenland and Iceland-breeding species like Barnacle Goose and Pink-footed Goose. One can hypothesize that with warming temperatures in the Arctic, more open ground is becoming available for geese to nest, which results in many more actual “wild goose chases” for birders in the mainland of North America!

Across many regions, declines in three species of concern continue—Northern Bobwhite, American Kestrel, and Loggerhead Shrike. Each species has regions where numbers remain relatively high, bobwhites in Texas, kestrels and shrikes in Florida, but even in those areas the numbers when viewed in birds per party hour (the effort-weighted data) show significant declines from the 1960s to the present. Kestrels and shrikes may face similar issues: As small birds of prey that live in shrubland and farmland and consume large insects and small birds and mammals, they are both likely hit with the double whammy of conversion of farmland to industrialized agriculture and use of pesticides in those areas. Kestrels also face the added risks of long-distance migration. Bobwhites—like practically all native quail—are facing the loss of quality shrubland habitat and its associated seed and insect crops, a trend exacerbated with increased droughts in many regions with our changing climate. The Northern Bobwhite has essentially disappeared as a breeding bird in the Northeast, and is facing massive declines throughout its range despite the annual release of birds by wildlife agencies for hunting.

Speaking about releases by wildlife agencies, take a look at numbers of Ring-necked Pheasants across the continent. While this is an introduced species in North America, for decades it was a well-established breeder with only supplemental releases for hunting. I well remember growing up in the Boston suburbs with our local male Ring-necked Pheasant loudly calling on many mornings at daybreak right outside my window, and the hen with a brood of chicks in the field in our back yard each year. These days it’s likely that any pheasant I encounter will be in the fall, and probably not long out of a cage in the back of a truck; this species has essentially disappeared as a breeder over much of its former established range.

It has been nearly 20 years since the Christmas Bird Count went online; prior to that results were only freely available in the printed issues of American Birds and Audubon Field Notes. With the computerization of the 100-year database the entire history of the Christmas Bird Count became available to anyone with an Internet connection, and compilers were able to enter their own data online, with results available to the public in near real time. Many of the discussions in the paragraphs above rely on access to the CBC results output tools, where anyone with an interest in bird data can view and download results by count or species. However, much of what is referred to above also relies to trend data—the real meat and potatoes of the value of Christmas Bird Count data to ornithological researchers and conservation scientists. Until now the trend data have only been available in scholarly publications and analyzed results in reports.

At last that is about to change. Audubon is putting the final touches on a new data visualization tool that will enable anyone to view the trend data for a species of interest. The Audubon Conservation Science team has also greatly streamlined the process for producing the trend data, and we will be able to update this output annually after each CBC season is finalized. We hope to have this new CBC data output view available shortly after the upcoming 118^th Count season, concurrent with the launch of the February American Birds e-Newsletter. Keep your eyes open for a new link on the CBC home page as soon as that is available!

This is my 30^th year in charge of the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, though I can’t believe it’s been that long. I vividly remember the day that Susan Roney Drennan, long-time Editor-in-Chief of American Birds, offered me the job; how could I decline at the National Audubon Society? Many people—compilers, regional editors, and participants—have been a crucial part of the program for far longer than yours truly. Each season we lose a few key folks, either by retirement or their passing, and the 117^th CBC season was especially bittersweet in that respect. You’ll see several new regional editors listed this season, and we welcome them aboard and look forward to a long tenure. I encourage you to read through the 117^th CBC Regional Summaries for more on that aspect of this season’s events.

However, two key people who were crucial to the entire history of the Christmas Bird Count, and especially its conversion to an online database, passed away in 2017. Through the 116^th season we could measure the direct involvement of two people in the Christmas Bird Count—Frank Chapman, who originated the count in 1900 and retired in 1934, and Chandler S. Robbins, who began participating and compiling counts in that same year.

Much has been written recently about Chan, who was not only a key player in the management, review, and participation on the CBC but who originated the Breeding Bird Survey in the 1960s and has been a champion of citizen science datasets for decades. He played a crucial role in the “Scientific Peer Review” of the Christmas Bird Count in 2003. He also of course wrote the groundbreaking “Golden Guide” to the Birds of North America, the first field guide to include all the birds of North America, information about each species on the same page as the illustration, and range maps. He even included sonograms of key species in this guide—a first for the general birding public. His impact on birding, ornithology, and conservation science cannot be over-stated. At age 98, a series of health issues sidelined Chan from participating on his traditional counts during the 117^th CBC, and it broke his heart. Chan passed away peacefully on March 20^th this year…the first day of spring. I would encourage you to take a look at the short video “Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count told by Chan Robbins” that is on the History of the Christmas Bird Count web page. For those of you who were not fortunate enough to meet him, it captures his spirit and passion perfectly.

Chan was a well-sung champion of the Christmas Bird Count, and most of you are probably well aware of him and his contributions to the field of Ornithology.

However, folks outside the New Mexico birding community probably only know of John Shipman—if they know his name at all—as the long-time New Mexico CBC Regional Editor. A jovial Renaissance man of many passions, his interests included vocal music, astronomy, computers, cooking, food, restaurant reviews, and of course birding. John’s special birding passion was the Christmas Bird Count and all respects of its data, and his in-depth knowledge of all things CBC data is surpassed by none. When Audubon and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology received the funding to create the 100-year online CBC database, it was John Shipman of course that we went to for the conversion from printed results to the digital world. The herculean task that John took on was to hand-enter all the data from copies of every single page of all seasons of Christmas Bird Count printed results from 1900 to 2000. Early issues of Bird-Lore only had perhaps 10 or 15 pages to convert; by the 100^th CBC the hard copies of American Birds were over 700 pages each season. John did it all with amazing speed and accuracy, and the end result is the fantastic online database that we have now, freely available to the world for perusal. John was a friend and birding companion; in 1999 while visiting my old haunts in New Mexico he showed me my “life” Red-faced Warbler, a bird that had been a nemesis for me during my birding days in the Southwest. We re-visited Beartrap Canyon in 2013 and found over a dozen singing male Red-faced Warblers—and natural cavity nesting Purple Martins in two standing dead ponderosa pines. It was an amazing day.

As John was preparing for the 117^th CBC season, he was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer and, after a short battle, passed away on January 31^st in Socorro, New Mexico. We would not have the Christmas Bird Count dataset as we know it today without all his contributions, and I will miss his enthusiasm and sage advice.

Back to the birds…and our shared experiences on the Christmas Bird Count. As mentioned earlier, the 117^th CBC presented challenges for many of us, myself included. I was unable to attend the first of my traditional counts in Rhode Island due to the snowstorm on the first weekend of the count period, and the second Rhode Island count was slightly later than usual—after the Christmas Holiday. That later day started with a bang—at the end of our first walkabout stop, in an old fish hatchery our field party of three separated a bit to ensure better coverage. One friend had hoped to see a Winter Wren for the day, and after parting briefly one was found. I located Rick and told him about the wren; off we went up the overgrown pond edge to find it. Doug headed off down the stream to check for other avian gems. Rick and I found a small bird along the pond edge, and I pointed him to the wren—however it wasn’t a wren at all, but rather a Northern Waterthrush! Figuring that could the bird of the day on a CBC in Rhode Island, I knew I needed to find Doug so he could also see the bird. We eventually met up back at the bird, where Rick had been left thinking he was looking at a Winter Wren and was quite perplexed! It was a great way to start the day. (The waterthrush turned out to be only the third count record since its inception in 1925.)

Over the course of the day we found a number of other great birds—an immature Red-headed Woodpecker, a female Barrow’s Goldeneye, and my old friend the Lesser Black-backed Gull, back for its 14^th winter in the count circle. And of course lots of the “regulars” in varying numbers; having covered this area for 35 years or so, it’s notable when birds like Yellow-rumped Warblers are scarce in the coastal thickets of Rhode Island on a CBC. As dusk approached at the refuge, we began our last walk down a dirt pathway, and noticed a fairly large yellow-green bird with wingbars on the ground under a wild rose thicket, feeding on berries on the ground. “Here’s an oriole!” I said, but when the bird turned around it was clear it was not an oriole, but a female Western Tanager! Out came Doug’s smart phone, and he was able to walk up to the bird close enough for diagnostic (if not cover-quality) photos. Mercifully the bird stayed, or survived, for two more days and others were able to see and better photograph it. Our Northern Waterthrush at the start of the day was easily trumped by the Western Tanager—a first count record.

When we head out on a Christmas Bird Count—or any day of birding for that matter—we never really know for sure what we’ll encounter. Sometimes we have a goal in mind, a species to see or a friend to bird with, and those goals may or may not be achieved. But we’ll have fun trying, and will count all the birds we see and hear to contribute to the database that now spans 117 years. And with every hour, day, and year that we contribute to the Christmas Bird Count we’re helping to ensure the future of the birds we love so dearly. See you in the field!