The 116th CBC in Utah

It’s that time of year again and this is my 18^th year as a regional editor! The change for CBC-116 is that this report only covers Utah.  A big “thanks” to Greg Johnson as he takes over the review work for Wyoming. If you know of any “new blood” who would like to edit Utah CBCs, let me know, as I would be willing to retire. When I started, the region consisted of Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah; so now one region is divided into three that are aligned with the state boundaries.

For the 116^th Christmas Bird Count, 26 count circles were reviewed for Utah and 194 species reported; only two counts recorded more than 100 species. For the most part, the theme this year concerned the species that forgot to migrate south by the end of December. The weather was mild and most water sites were not frozen. The mild weather and open water resulted in many counts reporting late migrating species. I could probably list over 30 species in this category (some that are usually only reported on the southern Utah counts showed up on the northern counts like Burrowing Owl and Say’s Phoebe); however, the most notable late migrants were Western Grebe, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Sora, Spotted Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Franklin’s Gull, Bewick’s Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and six species of sparrows (most notably the Vesper and Lark).

Every year when I get involved in reviewing the CBC database, I become curious about trend counts for some species. This year, I analyzed 10-year (CBC-106 through CBC 115) trend counts for Wild Turkey, Northern Harrier, Ferruginous Hawk, Belted Kingfisher, White-crowned Sparrow, and Song Sparrow. I marvel at the ease of data analysis with computer speed, internet connectivity, and the unbelievable CBC database. When I was thinking about the diversity of CBCs between northern Utah and southern Utah, the differences between individual years, and the 10-year trends I decided to look at my summary report from ten years ago (CBC-106). It turns out that CBC-106 was also during a mild winter with many late migrants. This was my first mention of California Quail expanding its range into traditional Gambel’s Quail range, as California Quail were reported from St. George. This year (CBC-116), I pondered the range expansion of both species as California Quail (832 reported on 8 counts) were seen as far south as Moab and Gambel’s Quail (706 reported on 5 counts) were seen as far north as Jensen.

Now, here are more details about those 10-year trend counts. Wild Turkey populations have been increasing throughout the last 10 years. On CBC-106, 698 were reported from 13 counts; by CBC-115, 1830 were reported on 18 counts. This year (CBC-116), 1104 were reported on 21 count circles. Northern Harrier populations have remained stable with between 400 and 450 seen on most years. CBC-113 was an exception with 628 seen on 23 counts. For CBC-116 observers reported 460 on 23 (out of 25) counts. For Ferruginous Hawks, we had a low count on CBC-107 with 25 individuals on nine counts and a high count on CBC-112 with 60 counted in ten circles. CBC-116 was close to average with 45 reported from ten counts. To me, it seemed like many more Belted Kingfishers remained in the area for CBC-116; however; our count of 68 on 13 circles was only slightly above average. During the last ten years, counts have ranged from 38 on CBC-109 to 83 on CBC-112. White-crowned Sparrows were one of only two species found on all 25 count circles (the other was the Common Raven). However, White-crowned Sparrow numbers at 6442 were below the 10-year average of 7520 and considerably below the high count of 9752 reported on CBC-109. For interest, I compared Song Sparrow numbers and found the population has been stable over the last 10 years with numbers ranging from 710 to 1092. For CBC-116, the total of 929 on 23 counts was above average.

Every year I like to look at the historical record for one Utah CBC count. This year, I looked at the history of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge count (UTBR). This route was started in 1939 (CBC-40) for a 77-year span, but was not run on 12 of these years; so the database contains information for 65 counts. Birds seen on all 65 counts include Ring-necked Pheasant, Northern Harrier, Rough-legged Hawk, Black-billed Magpie, Red-winged Blackbird, and House Sparrow. Over this span, a total of 137 species were seen with six seen every year and 31 species seen only once.

I will close with a few interesting tidbits from the CBC-116 count. Northern Utah birders formerly needed to make a trip to the St. George area to view Lesser Goldfinch. Currently, Lesser Goldfinch occurs north as far as Canada and the St. George CBC recorded no Lesser Goldfinches this year. St. George did have high counts for seven waterfowl and three “water-bird” species. Evening Grosbeaks are very nomadic, so counts are highly variable. This year high populations of Evening Grosbeak were recorded – 362 on five counts.

Lastly, I compliment Salt Lake City (UTSL) for their efforts to promote partnerships that resulted in high participation with an age range between six and 94!