The 117th CBC in West Virginia

West Virginia has 20 circles with center points within the state.  With fifty percent of our counts running continuously for over 40 years, WV continues its long history with Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count.

There are at least three CBC circles centered outside our state that cover large swatches of WV.   This report only includes data from those circles with center points located within West Virginia.

Eleven of our counts were run in the first week of the CBC season, five were completed between December 23^rd – 31^st and four were conducted in January.

Seasonal Weather Report:

Temperature Lows:  Nine counts started below freezing, with Lewisburg dipping to 10.  Five counts began at 40+ degrees.  Wheeling was the only count to start and stay below freezing at 21-27 degrees.

Temperature Highs:  Eleven counts reached 50 degrees or higher, with Charleston peaking at 68.

Five counts had snow on the ground with Wheeling’s 4” the most reported.  Four counts had light snow falling.  Ten counts reported light rain and two counts had heavy rain at some point.

Effort Report:

Five counts had more than 26 participants, the Hampshire count had the highest with 35 field birders.

Four counts had over 60 party hours:  Inwood 67, Wheeling 89.75, Canaan 98, and Hampshire 99.25. Nine other counts reported between 40 - 60 party hours on count day.

Canaan lead the way with 509 party miles, followed by Inwood’s 418.25, third highest was Elkins with 360.50.  Seven other counts had between 300-353 miles reported.

Sixteen counts had feeder watchers.  The Pendleton count had the highest number with 15 watching, followed by Parkersburg with eight and Morgantown with five feeder watchers.

Four counts reported over four hours of owling.  Morgantown lead the way with seven hours, Huntington had 4.5 hours, and Ona and Canaan both at four hours.  All four of these counts had over 37 miles covered, but Ona’s 56 miles was the most covered.

WV state effort totals:  By car: 4943.60 miles - 558.75 hours, by foot: 333.80 miles - 393.50 hours, by bicycle: 8 miles - 3 hours, by boat: 20 miles - 3 hours.

Bird Reports:

One hundred nineteen species were found in WV on count days, with an additional four species added as count week (CW) birds, totaling 123 species for the 117^th CBC season.  The following is a synopsis of the species reported.

Geese/Swans:  Canada Geese were the third most abundant species this count season, but four other geese species were reported: one Cackling (Morgantown), one Ross’s (Ona), two Snow (Parkersburg/Ona), and a CW Greater White-fronted Goose (Elkins).  A total of 90 Tundra Swans (70 from Wheeling) were reported from three circles, only two Mute Swans were reported on count days (Morgantown).

Ducks:  Twenty species of ducks were found on count days plus two others from count weeks.  Mallards were the 8^th most abundant species found in the state, but other duck numbers were significant this season.  Mergansers were well represented, a total of 351 Hooded from 15 counts, and 186 Common from 10 counts.  Other ducks on the list, of over 100 found, were:  American Black Duck 141, Bufflehead 136, Gadwall 123 and Ruddy Duck 108.  Other rarer finds included: five Common Goldeneye (four located on the Parkersburg count and one from Morgantown), a single Blue-winged Teal and a Northern Pintail (located in Parkersburg) and the four Surf Scoters discovered on the Raleigh count.  Also, a Long-tailed Duck was reported as a CW bird on the Morgantown count.  All were very nice finds. 

Game Birds:  Most counts saw Wild Turkeys for a total of 650.  Four counts picked up Ruffed Grouse on count days, (Canaan 4, Elkins 3, Franklin/Pendleton 2, Pocahontas 2) totaling 11 birds.

Loons/Grebes:  Three Common Loons were discovered, one on the Huntington count and two from Raleigh. 93 Horned Grebes on seven counts outnumbered the 81 Pied-billed Grebes found on 10 counts.

Cormorant/Heron/Ibis:  Seventy Double-crested Cormorants (34 from Ona) were reported this season from only five circles.  The Great Blue Heron state tally of 110 birds came from 17 counts.  A lone Ibis species was a very rare CW Parkersburg find.

Vultures:  We tallied 1134 Turkey Vultures from 17 circles while 985 Black Vultures were also found on 14 counts, keeping both vultures on the top 20 species list in the state this count season.

Eagles/Hawks:  Eagle numbers continue to impress with six counts having Golden Eagles totaling seven birds.  A total of 78 Bald Eagles were tallied from 13 circles, with a record 23 BAEA found in Hampshire alone.    Red-tailed Hawks lead the state’s “hawk list” with 308, followed by the 115 Red-shouldered Hawks; both on most counts.  Twenty-five Northern Harriers were found in the state from nine CBC’s.  A lone Rough-legged Hawk, located in Canaan, was the only RLHA recorded this count season.  

Sandhill Crane:  The only Sandhill Cranes located were the seven found on the Raleigh count.

Shorebirds:  Along with 38 Killdeer, five Wilson Snipe were tallied from five counts.  Rarer, a single Greater Yellowlegs and a Spotted Sandpiper were great finds for Morgantown.

Gulls:  434 Ring-billed Gulls were documented from eight counts with 247 of those found on the Parkersburg CBC.  Four Herring Gulls were also reported, three in Wheeling and one from Ona.

Owls:  The most abundant owl species reported were 40 Eastern Screech-Owls, followed by 18 Barred and 10 Great Horned.  Other nice finds included, Morgantown and Canaan each finding a Northern Saw-whet Owl, and the three Barn Owls that were recorded on the Moorefield count.

Woodpeckers:  The top three woodpeckers found in the state were, 701 Downy, 554 Red-bellied and 240 Pileated.  Fourteen counts tallied a total of 52 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers.  Red-headed Woodpeckers were in four circles totaling 20 birds.

Falcons:  139 American Kestrels were reported from 17 counts.  An impressive total of 10 Peregrine Falcons were counted from five circles.  Four Merlins were also found, two in Morgantown, one in Charleston and one on the Parkersburg’s count.

Flycatchers:  A total of 29 Eastern Phoebes were tallied this season, discovered on 15 of the counts.

Crows/Ravens:  The massive crow roost from Wheeling always gives us a high count and this year was no exception, 69,333 American Crows (45K from Wheeling) were recorded statewide.  A total of 290 Common Ravens were tallied from 15 circles.  A rarer find, two Fish Crows were located on the Charles Town count.

Thrushes/Mimids:  Nineteen counts found a combined 1141 Eastern Bluebirds, the 16^th most prevalent bird on the count.  Ten circles tallied 20 Hermit Thrushes (6 found in Ona).  Only 634 American Robins were counted.  Most circles saw Northern Mockingbirds, with 366 found.  Rarer finds included two Brown Thrashers, one in Huntington and one in Charleston, and a Gray Catbird found in Morgantown.

Warblers:  The Yellow-rumped Warblers found in 12 circles totaled 132 birds.  A lone Common Yellowthroat was a nice find for Ona.

Sparrows:  Ten species of sparrows were found. Dark-eyed Juncos, at 4594 birds, were the 4^th most seen bird on the count.  Rounding off the top three sparrows found, 1329 Song Sparrows and 1262 White-throated Sparrows.  Always a nice find, Fox Sparrows were on 11 counts totaling 25 birds.

Blackbirds:  Eight counts reported Red-winged Blackbirds totaling 1464 birds, the 13^th most abundant state species.  Four circles tallied a total of 46 Eastern Meadowlarks.  Rarer, Rusty Blackbirds were found in Wheeling and Hampshire with three birds each.

Finches:  The 12^th most reported species, American Goldfinch, totaled 1546 birds.  Seven counts tallied 13 Purple Finches, three counts found six Pine Siskins, and 11 Red Crossbills were located on the Pipestem count.  The only Evening Grosbeak in the state came from Canaan.

Other noteworthy birds:  Horned Larks found on five counts totaled 112 birds.  Eleven counts saw Ruby-crowned Kinglets, totaling 24 birds. The Loggerhead Shrike on the Pocahontas count was a nice find.        

 Top 20 species found in West Virginia during the 117^th CBC season.

1. American Crow – 69,333
2. European Starling – 15,900
3. Canada Goose – 9443
4. Dark-eyed Junco – 4594
5. Rock Pigeon – 4346
6. Mourning Dove – 3498
7. Northern Cardinal – 2773
8. Mallard – 2512
9. Tufted Titmouse – 2229
10. House Sparrow – 1969
11. Carolina Chickadee – 1802
12. American Goldfinch – 1546
13. Red-winged Blackbird – 1464
14. Song Sparrow – 1329
15. White-throated Sparrow – 1262
16. Eastern Bluebird – 1141
17. Turkey Vulture – 1134
18. White-breasted Nuthatch – 1074
19. Carolina Wren – 1020
20. Black Vulture - 985