The 125th Christmas Bird Count in Virginia - Washington DC

Fifty-four Christmas Bird Counts (CBCs) were conducted in Virginia for the 2024-2025 season. The total number of species tallied on the 2024-2025 counts was 212 which is just below the 2023-2024 season total of 213. But the total number of individuals was 919,005 which is significantly higher than the 2023-2024 season total of 752,144.

There were a few compiler changes in 2024-2025. Robert Ake turned over compilation duties to Dave Youker for the Nansemond River CBC. Terrell Worrell took over compilation duties from Ashley Studholme for the Nokesville CBC. Joette Borzik is the new compiler replacing Roberta Kellam on the Nassawadox CBC. Jim Corliss passed on the job of compiling the Williamsburg CBC to Shirley Devan.

The only count setting a record for Total Number of Species was Martinsville with 64. Dragon Run logged 7,816 species and Highland County saw 9,716 species which are new high Total Number of Individual birds for these two CBCs. The Plains CBC set a new record for the Number of Observers this year with 66.

Several gull sightings were notable:

• 68,286 Ring-billed Gulls are encouraging as their numbers have been less than 50,000 for the last four years
• 10,737 Herring Gulls are the most seen since 10,226 were observed ten years ago, in 2015
• 630 Lesser Black-backed Gulls is a new High Count that is almost double the previous high of 332 set in 2021; these local CBC high counts contributed: 7 Cape Charles & 496 Back Bay
• 1,860 Great Black-backed Gulls is the most reported in almost ten years, since 2,029 in 2016
• A single Black-headed Gull was counted at Little Creek; one was last seen on the Hopewell CBC in 2021
• 3 Iceland Gulls were found on these CBCs: 1 Washington DC, 1 Brooke & 1 Central Loudoun

Six wintering Ruby-throated Hummingbirds set a new High Count for the state: 1 Nassawadox, 3 Little Creek, 1 Back Bay, and 1 Newport News plus 1 Count Week in Cape Charles. Other wintering hummingbirds were: two Rufous Hummingbirds (1 Charlottesville and Rappahannock), a Rufous/Allen’s Hummingbird in Williamsburg and one that could only be identified as selasphorus sp. on The Plains count.

Some woodpecker numbers were down but a record high count was established for one:

• 3,722 Red-bellied Woodpeckers is the lowest number since 3,454 were seen in 2016
• 2,870 Downy Woodpeckers is the lowest number observed since 2,215 were recorded in 2018
• 1.137 Piliated Woodpeckers is the lowest since 1,007 in 2018
• But 707 Hairy Woodpeckers is a record High Count (besting the old record from 2022 of 668)

It was surprising to see low numbers for these common species:

• 51 House Wrens is the fewest seen since 44 in 2015
• 6,991 Carolina Wrens is the lowest since 6,106 in 2018
• 782 Eastern Towhees is the lowest number found since 616 in 2009

But these common species had notable high counts:

•  25,257 Dark-eyed Juncos is the highest since 25,704 in 2014
• 29,709 White-throated Sparrows is the highest since the record high count of 30,926 in 2020
• 59 Baltimore Orioles is a new high count with these local CBC high counts: 23 Williamsburg, 1 Northumberland-Lancaster (where it was a new species), 1 Washington’s Birthplace, 2 Sandy River Reservoir & 2 Blacksburg
• 5,255 House Finches is the highest since 5,676 in 2007, but only one-third of the all-time high count of 17,078 set in 1993

Here are some other high counts of interest:

• Green-winged Teal numbers rebounded as 3,731 is the most seen in the last five years
• 2,591 Canvasbacks was a surprising increase after only 398 were detected on 2023 CBCs
• 1,869 Black Scoters were encouraging as fewer than 100 were discovered on the previous two years CBCs
• 35 Northern Bobwhites are up from only 11 in 2023 and 3 in 2022
• 1,287 Wild Turkeys are the most seen in over five years since 1,607 in 2019
• 19,146 Double-crested Cormorants are a record High Count
• 28 Cattle Egrets is the highest number since 34 were observed in 1992 and none were located in many of the years in between
• Annual new High Counts continue to be set for the fourth year in a row for the Bald Eagle with 1,919 found on the 2024 CBCs. Many local CBCs contributed with these record High Counts: 69 Nassawadox, 26 Little Creek, 68 Newport News, 123 Williamsburg, 96 Dragon Run, 56 Middle Peninsula, 18 Chancellorsville, 19 Lake Anna, 46 Calmes Neck, 13 Glade Spring, 2 Cedars Preserve-Jonesville (where it was a new species)
• 1,104 Red-shouldered Hawks is a record High Count
• 2,439 Killdeer are the most seen since 2,608 in 2009
• 1,521 Willits are a record High Count
• 59 Whimbrels is a record High Count breaking last year’s record of 38; the majority of these were from the record High Count of 43 identified on the Nassawadox CBC
• 599 American Kestrels is the highest since 870 were found in 2002
• 65 Merlins is a record High Count breaking last year’s record of 48
• 676 Eastern Phoebes is a new High Count also breaking last year’s record of 610; several local CBCs had new High Counts that contributed: 15 Little Creek, 24 Back Bay, 36 Williamsburg, 15 Dragon Run, 21 Middle Peninsula, 19 Northumberland-Lancaster, 23 Fort Belvoir, 17 Central Loudoun, 29 Sandy River Reservoir, 4 Martinsville, 7 Calmes Neck, 19 Rappahannock, 10 Rockingham County & 4 Highland County
• 2,039 Golden-crowned Kinglets is encouraging as their numbers have been low for a few years; this is the highest since 1,991 were seen in 2017 but less than half their record high count of 4,258 in 1990
• 328 Brown Thrashers is new High Count
• 81 Orange-crowned Warblers is a new High Count that includes these local High Counts: 11 Little Creek, 20 Back Bay, 9 Newport News, 1 Northumberland-Lancaster (where this was a new species) & 8 Washington DC
• 26 Common Yellowthroats is the most reported since the same number in 2005 but that isn’t close to the record high count of 149 in 1972
• 123 Nelson’s Sparrows is the first number over 100 since the record high count of 147 was set in 2020
• 542 Fox Sparrows is the most spotted since the record high count of 921 in 2010
• 115,282 Red-winged Blackbirds is memorable as this is the first time the number has climbed above 100,000 in over ten years when 188,136 were seen in 2011

And then there are always some species with low numbers:

• 89 Redheads, this is the second year in a row that fewer than 100 were logged
• Numbers were surprisingly low for both loon species as the 67 Red-throated Loons is the lowest since 60 were tallied in 1975 and the 296 Common Loons are the lowest since 185 were recorded in 1981
• Only 233 Northern Gannets were reported which is the fewest since 204 in 2010
• 88 American Woodcocks are the least detected since 69 in 2009
• 3 Loggerhead Shrikes is the lowest number seen in over eighty years when only 2 were located in 1942; this year’s shrikes were on these CBCs: 1 Tazewell & 2 Blackford

Some species are interesting as they are unexpected or not found every year:

• The only Eurasian Wigeon occurred on the Back Bay count
• A Count Week Red-necked Grebe on the Cape Charles CBC was the only one detected this year
• 2 Common Gallinules were on the Cape Charles CBC; the last CBC report was in 2020
• 4 Sandhill Cranes were photographed in flight on The Plains CBC
• The only Piping Plover was a single at Chincoteague; this is only the third CBC sighting in the last ten years
• A Long-billed Curlew was located on the Nassawadox CBC after not being reported on a CBC since 2015
• 2 Royal Terns were observed at Back Bay
• Only 1 Ash-throated Flycatcher was seen this year on the Little Creek CBC after 4 were recorded in 2023
• Back Bay CBC had the only Western Kingbird
• 6 Lapland Longspurs were photographed on the Wachapreague CBC
• A Nashville Warbler was photographed in Washington DC; this is the fourth year in a row that at least one Nashville Warbler has been found on a VA/DC CBC
• 5 Snow Buntings were discovered on two counts: 1 Back Bay & 4 Newport News
• The only Yellow-breasted Chat was photographed on the Nansemond River CBC
• A single Harris’s Sparrow was photographed on the Hopewell count; its last occurrence on a Virginia CBC was in 2017
• 2 Western Tanagers were seen on the Little Creek CBC and one was photographed
• A Rose-breasted Grosbeak was photographed during Count Week on the Little Creek CBC; the last CBC sighting was also Count Week on the Williamsburg CBC in 2014
• A Bullock’s Oriole was found for the second year in a row on VA/DC CBCs; this year it was photographed on the Washington DC count
• 6 Red Crossbills were occurred: 2 Big Flat Mountain & 4 Fincastle

A few hybrids were located this year:

• A Snow Goose x Canada Goose hybrid was documented on the Back Bay CBC
• 30 American Black Duck x Mallard hybrids were recorded

These subspecies were identified:

• 17 Cackling Geese (Richardson’s) at Back Bay
• A Red-tailed Hawk (abieticola) at Fincastle
• 3 Palm Warblers (Yellow/Eastern) at Washington’s Birthplace
• 47 Savannah Sparrow (Ipswich) at: 12 Chincoteague, 33 Cape Charles & 2 Newport News

A disappointing miss was that no Green Herons were discovered; they had been recorded on the previous five CBCs.