Lincoln’s 2025 Christmas Bird Count

Audubon across the country celebrated its 126^th Christmas Bird Count (CBC) season and volunteers all around Lincoln helped count the Lincoln CBC circle. The day was mild and partly sunny and included counters in the field, at their own bird feeders and local parks, as well as an accessible and family birding station at Pioneers Park Nature Center.

The diversity of bird species was down this count compared to past years with 76 species of birds detected over the count day, and the overall numbers of individual birds was much lower, especially with waterfowl, game birds, and most markedly, wintering sparrow species. This trend seems to continue across the country with bird populations declining.  As usual, Canada Goose was the most numerous species with European Starling and Pigeon coming in a close second and third (and the Dark-eyed Junco coming in a very close fourth). Some highlights this year were a near record number of Brown Creepers detected and a really great winter for Northern Flickers staying around Lincoln.

The full list of species is below. A huge THANK YOU to all the amazing volunteers of all ages and abilities that helped to make the CBC a success. A special thank you to Cassandra Dean, the UNL Bird Club, and staff at Pioneers Park Nature Center. We had 110 volunteer counters in the field and at feeders around Lincoln this year. And, to celebrate and share stories, more than 20 of the counters joined in a mac ‘n’ cheese lunch hosted at Pioneers Park Nature Center.