The 61st Cincinnati Christmas Bird Count was conducted yesterday, Sunday, December 30th. It was a rousing success in every way. We set a new count high with 94 total species, breaking our previous high of 92 species set in 2004. Maybe more importantly is that we had our third highest participation since 1980. This year we had 148 birders take part, 128 in the field and 20 as feeder watchers. Our record participation is 157, which was set in 1979.
We had a number of highlights on this count. We do our best to stick to a high standard when accepting rare birds into our count records and all of the following species have been accepted. We had 20 species of anseriformes (ducks & geese) and included Greater White-fronted Goose (a new count record) and Greater Scaup and Red-breasted Merganser, both unusual species for this count. Other rare or uncommon species for this count included; Ruffed Grouse (only our second record), Bald Eagle, Rough-legged Hawk, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Sandhill Crane, Short-eared Owl, Red-headed Woodpecker, American Pipit, Palm Warbler, and Chipping Sparrow.
The entire count totals follow. An asterisk * denotes a high number of individuals for this count.
Greater White-fronted Goose 1*, Canada Goose 1551, Mute Swan 5, Wood Duck 1, Gadwall 42, American Wigeon 76, American Black Duck 10, Mallard 487, Northern Shoveler 31, Green-winged Teal 1, Canvasback 12, Redhead, 21, Ring-necked Duck 363, Greater Scaup 5*, Lesser Scaup 4, Bufflehead 42, Common Goldeneye 2, Hooded Merganser, 133, Common Merganser (cw), Red-breasted Merganser 1, Ruddy Duck 94, Ruffed Grouse 2*, Wild Turkey 10, Pied-billed Grebe 58, Great Blue Heron 62, Black Vulture 292*, Turkey Vulture 294, Bald Eagle 1, Northern Harrier 5, Sharp-shinned Hawk 7, Cooper's Hawk 22, Red-shouldered Hawk 41*, Red-tailed Hawk 95, Rough-legged Hawk 2, American Kestrel 24, Merlin 1, Peregrine Falcon 1, American Coot 793, Sandhill Crane 277*, Ring-billed Gull 1651, Rock Pigeon 650, Mourning Dove 679, Eastern Screech-Owl 6, Great Horned Owl 10, Barred Owl 3, Short-eared Owl 1, Belted Kingfisher 30, Red-headed Woodpecker 1, Red-bellied Woodpecker 357, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 33, Downy Woodpecker 385, Hairy Woodpecker 71*, Northern Flicker 79, Pileated Woodpecker 62*, Eastern Phoebe 5, Blue Jay 640, American Crow 1085, American Pipit 2, Carolina Chickadee 1454, Tufted Titmouse 683, Red-breasted Nuthatch 20, White-breasted Nuthatch 248, Brown Creeper 34, Carolina Wren 290, Winter Wren 5, Golden-crowned Kinglet 16, Eastern Bluebird 66, Hermit Thrush 9, American Robin 3743, Northern Mockingbird 95, Brown Thrasher 2, European Starling 4033, Cedar Waxwing 19, Yellow-rumped Warbler 97, Palm Warbler 2, Eastern Towhee 128, American Tree Sparrow 405, Field Sparrow 95, Savannah Sparrow 10, Fox Sparrow 5, Song Sparrow 865, Swamp Sparrow 84, White-throated Sparrow 1299, White-crowned Sparrow 150, Chipping Sparrow 5, Dark-eyed Junco 583, Northern Cardinal 1836, Red-winged Blackbird 40, Eastern Meadowlark 4, Brown-headed Cowbird 1, Purple Finch 5, House Finch 349, Pine Siskin 16, American Goldfinch 1096, House Sparrow 743.
Notable misses were Northern Bobwhite seen on 53 of the 60 (53/60) previous counts (and once had 555!), Killdeer 59/60, Horned Lark 46/60, Ruby-crowned Kinglet 41/60 (and 16 of the last 16 years), and Common Grackle 53/60. Numbers were on the low side for Golden-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird and Carolina Wren.
Thanks to all who participated and made this years count a great success.
Jay Stenger
Compiler
Cincinnati Christmas Bird Count
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