 |
| An eastern towhee (Pipilio erythrophthalmus) puffs up in honor of another CBC. |
The Adams County Christmas Bird Count (CBC) was held on December 19, 2020. This annual count finds birders in predetermined locations recording every bird they encounter, sight or sound.
 |
| A pair of bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) watch over their new nest site. |
Eleven territories make up the Adams County circle. Upwards of 22 people searched the fields and woods and neighborhoods of the county finding 76 species between 6:30am and 5:30pm on count day. The weather was cooperative and the numbers of birds did not disappoint. The total number of individual birds found that day was 23,625. That's a lot of birds to count!
 |
| American tree sparrows (Spizelloides arborea) visit our area only in winter. |
All habitats are searched for specific birds. Ducks of course, as well as eagles are found near the rivers. Fields are hang out spots for many sparrows like the American tree, white-crowned and field sparrows.
 |
| Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) Photo by Rich McCarty |
Forests are checked for wintering visitors like hermit thrushes, brown creepers and golden-crowned kinglets.
 |
| Golden-crowned kinglet (Regulus satrapa) exposes its bright head stripe when excited. |
 |
| Red-breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) |
This red-breasted nuthatch is another winter visitor can be found in pine stands, but more easily found visiting bird feeders eating suet and black oil sunflower seed.
 |
| Purple finch (Haemorhous purpureus) |
Although many of the winter visitors can be hard to find, this year produced large numbers of seed eating birds like purple finches and evening grosbeaks. The latter has not be found on CBC in over 25 years but 8 were seen this year.
 |
| Large numbers of red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) were found this year including this colorful young male. |
This years count had record numbers of 9 species: ring-necked duck, black vulture, American woodcock (new this year), red-shouldered hawk, red-headed woodpecker, northern flicker, European starling, swamp sparrow and red-winged blackbirds.
 |
| Winter wrens (Troglodytes hiemalis) are extremely hard to find, and see. And harder to snap a shot of! |
 |
| Downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) |
Above and below are a couple of our resident birds found every year on the count, so they rarely get cameras pointed in their direction. But some birds like the downy woodpecker and American goldfinch have been counted all 40 years the count has taken place in Adams County.
 |
| American goldfinch (Spinus tristis) |
One of the best places to count many birds at once is a house with bird feeders. There you can find many common residents, or if you get lucky, find a wintering rarity like the yellow-bellied sapsucker.
 |
| Yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) |
Not to be confused with the red-bellied woodpecker below, which also has yellow on its belly, but red as well. Yellow-bellieds have no red on their belly. And most male woodpeckers have red on their heads, but it doesn't make them red-headed woodpeckers.....I know, confusing.
 |
| Red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) |
Every year some unusual birds show up and make the count exciting. This year was the first time that American woodcocks (not pictured, only heard) were displaying right before dark as they would in March. Never heard before in December, and new for the count, this was a pleasant surprise. And this did not occur just in one field, but two! Miles apart!
Here are the birds recorded on Dec. 19, 2020:
Canada goose 544
wood duck 1
American black duck 17
mallard 154
green-winged teal 1
ring-necked duck 186
bufflehead 1
lesser scaup 3
hooded merganser 27
ruddy duck 1
N. bobwhite quail 1
wild turkey 39
pied-billed grebe 1
great blue heron 10
black vulture 417
turkey vulture 5
northern harrier 1
coopers hawk 2
bald eagle 6
red-shouldered hawk 22
red-tailed hawk 45
killdeer 17
American woodcock 3
rock pigeon 177
mourning dove 640
barn owl 1
eastern screech owl 6
great horned owl 13
barred owl 4
belted kingfisher 11
red-headed woodpecker 33
red-bellied woodpecker 79
yellow-bellied sapsucker 4
downy woodpecker 41
hairy woodpecker 17
norther flicker 72
pileated woodpecker 27
American kestrel 55
eastern phoebe 2
blue jay 350
American crow 411
Carolina chickadee 120
tufted titmouse 103
red-breasted nuthatch 7
white-breasted nuthatch 53
brown creeper 6
winter wren 5
Carolina wren 64
golden-crowned kinglet 15
eastern bluebird 89
hermit thrush 5
American robin 560
brown thrasher 2
northern mockingbird 24
European starling 16121
cedar waxwing 9
yellow-rumped warbler 39
American tree sparrow 12
field sparrow 19
fox sparrow 12
dark-eyed junco 206
white-crowned sparrow 9
white-throated sparrow 128
song sparrow 75
swamp sparrow 42
eastern towhee 29
northern cardinal 281
red-winged blackbird 273
eastern meadowlark 33
common grackle 1341
brown-headed cowbird 204
house finch 8
purple finch 27
American goldfinch 101
evening grosbeak 8
house sparrow 148
 |
| White-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) |
 |
| Winter wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) |
In all, it was a great day to be outside hunting for as many bird species as possible, and our number reflected it. Thanks to all the dedicated participants that brave the winter elements every year to record numbers for long term data curated by the Audubon Society.
Posted by: Mark Zloba
