Christmas Bird Counts
Chico & Oroville & Paradise Christmas Bird Counts (CBC)
All Christmas Bird Counts are held between December 14th and January 5th each season.
Chico Christmas Bird Count
December 16, 2023
27 Participants
118 Species, 20,326 individuals
Jared, Mauricio, and Katie had the delight of seeing a Varied Thrush in Lower Park, Matt & Charlie got the only Rufous-crowned Sparrows on the Upper Park South route, Joyce’s group and Liam got a White-throated Sparow (the same one I think). Joyce’s group also got a Western Screech-owl – unusual for the Chico CBC, and Asya and Mike got a Western Tanager in the BCEP-Genetic Resource Area section. Liam also got 808 sandhill cranes in an area south of the Oxidation Ponds on the backroads and over 1,000 Western Meadowlarks mostly at the University Farm. Everyone reported that CalPark was seriously lacking in duck and gull species during the count, but they did pick up three Green Herons. The biggest surprise was getting a Barred Owl on the Chico CBC! My friend Sheli told me that her neighbor had discovered a Barred Owl in his backyard. That was Liam’s section, so I told him about it. A few others got to see it also, but we didn’t advertise it because it was in a private backyard.
Oroville Christmas Bird Count
December 30, 2023
25 Participants
138 Species, 112,686 individuals
Liam, Mike & JT had the Thermalito Afterbay section where they got a White-winged Scoter, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 1 Western Gull, 1282 Common Goldeneyes, and 940 Ruddy Ducks. Liam also slogged through the marshy areas around the Afterbay where he picked up record (unofficially) numbers of Virginia Rails (26), Sora (41), Marsh Wrens (134), Lincoln’s Sparrows (337) and Song Sparrows (551).
Karen White, Diana Hoffmeister, and Pamela Waldsmith had the Feather River Parkway where they picked up some cool gull species (with a little help from Liam), including an Iceland Gull (formerly Thayer’s Gull), 2 Glaucous-winged Gulls, 3 Short-billed Gulls (formerly Mew Gulls) along with 8 California Gulls, 18 Herring Gulls, and 482 Ring-billed Gulls. They also found three Barrow’s Goldeneyes on the river. Mary, Ken and Jim did pretty good on raptors with three Ferruginous Hawks, as well as 25 Bald Eagles, 6 White-tailed Kites, 5 Cooper’s Hawks, 3 Prairie Falcons, and one Merlin, but missed Rough-legged Hawk. We dipped on Loggerhead Shrike (mostly found on the Cottonwood/Nelson route) and on Rock Wren (usually seen in either the Nelson Ave area or the South Forebay area).
Paradise/Forest Ranch/Concow Christmas Bird Count
Monday, December 19, 2022
Liam Huber decided to start a NEW CBC in the Paradise/Forest Ranch/Concow area. We’re still waiting to see if it will become an official Audubon CBC. It was fun to explore a new area. It was a cold day, but we still tallied 93 species and 5,804 individual birds. Liam and his group found two White-headed Woodpeckers in his Concow section, and recorded rare sightings of Green-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup, Cackling Goose and Canvasback on Concow Lake. The group that had Zone 3 found a Northern Pygmy-Owl, and Scott Huber and Mary Muchowski found a Townsend’s Warbler and two Varied Thrush at Paradise Lake. High counts include American Robins with 781, Dark-eyed Juncos at 580, White-crowned Sparrows at 265, and Golden-crowned Sparrows not far behind at 256. Acorn Woodpeckers made a good showing with 254 and 257 Ring-necked Ducks were seen. We had the compilation dinner at the Altacal Office.
Chico Christmas Bird Count
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Liam Huber was the compiler for the Chico Christmas Bird Count this past season and the whole group tallied 130 species (that’s good for the Chico count circle!), and 19,141 individual birds. It was a brisk morning at 41*F, but at least it didn’t rain on us. One of the highlights was a spotting of three Lapland Longspurs (Liam heard one as it flew over) among a flock of 1,766 Horned Larks at the University Farm! Phil Johnson got two Northern Pygmy-Owls in his Upper Park – South section, and Al heard two Western Screech-Owls in his section. Asher Perla and Asya Lesly had a Short-billed Gull, a Townsend’s Solitaire, and two Rufous-crowned Sparrows in their section. Scott Huber also got two Townsend’s Solitaires and one Rufous-crowned Sparrow in Upper Park – North. Matt Forster and Mike Millikan had two Osprey near the Sacramento River, and Cameron had 6 Red-breasted Nuthatches (a good number!), 2 Chipping Sparrows, and one Black Rail in his section which included BCEP and the Genetic Resource Center.
Oroville Christmas Bird Count
Sunday, January 1, 2023
The Oroville Christmas Bird Count was scheduled for Friday, December 30, 2023, but with a forecast of heavy rain all day, Liam Huber, Gaylord Grams and Mary Muchowski decided to postpone it until Sunday, January 1st, 2023, since it was forecast to be the only sunny day for the remainder of the Count Period. This turned out to be a good move – it was sunny, although windy in some places, for the whole day.
Oroville has not canceled a CBC since 1968!! We didn’t want to put a glitch in that stellar record, and somehow, we were able to pull it off, thanks to the 25 volunteers who were willing to come out on New Year’s Day and count birds in the 15-mile diameter circle. Joseph, Andy, Hilary and Laura’s group found 5 American White Pelicans in the Oroville Wildlife Area – the first time they were recorded on the Oroville CBC! We also had a high of 45 Lewis’s Woodpeckers, seen by five different groups. Ken Sobon and Jim Thomas had the Cottonwood/Nelson and Thermalito Forebay section and they got an impressive list of raptors: 2 Golden Eagles, 5 White-tailed Kites, 32 Bald Eagles, 8 Northern Harriers, 1 Cooper’s Hawk, 1 Red-shouldered Hawk, 1 Prairie Falcon, 18 Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Burrowing Owls, 13 American Kestrels, and 3 Ferruginous Hawks!
Charlie Cornell, Karen White and Karen Smith had the Feather River Parkway section and said they saw more anglers than gulls as it was opening day of steelhead season, however they did get the only Spotted Sandpiper and had 185 Bufflehead. The Palermo group got the only White-throated Sparrow. Mary and Vance saw a Common Loon on the Diversion Pool just after they started, then heard a California Thrasher near the end of their 9-mile hike east up the Brad Freeman trail and back west on the Dan Beebe Trail. They were treated to at least 30 White-throated Swifts near the Table Mountain Bridge when they got back to their vehicle. Jennifer Patten, Jared Geiser and Maggie Scarpa had the Table Mountain section and picked up the only Wood Ducks for the day.
Some of the high counts were 3,366 Greater White-fronted Geese, 3,261 American Coots, 2,835 Northern Pintail, 1,509 European Starlings, and 1,055 Tundra Swans (Ken tried to pick out some Trumpeter Swans, but couldn’t find one in the count circle). All together we tallied 28,585 birds of 126 species. Not a bad way to start off the year!