Courtesy of Dale Provost

We had a great count this year as birders bundled up on the coldest day in two weeks to assist in Park City’s 4th CBC. With a little snow on the ground and cold winds, birders were joined by a small high school group from the Oakley School and recorded a Park City CBC record, 65 species. The warm weather over the past weeks has left most bodies of water unfrozen; so many waterfowl and gull species were viewed.

This year’s highlights included Wood Ducks, a Prairie Falcon, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Ruffed Grouse, American Tree Sparrows, a lone Killdeer, and great views of Bald and Golden Eagles.

Special thanks goes to all our drivers and anyone who allowed us to view their feeders and backyard birds.

Nate Brown

When: Sunday, December 14, 2014

Time: 8am - 6pm

Sign Up at: utahbirders.com/cbc

We are pleased to announce the 4th annual Utah Birders Park City Christmas Bird Count and invite you to participate!  The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a census of birds performed annually in December and January by volunteer birders. The purpose is to provide population data for use in science, especially conservation biology--though many people participate just for fun.

The 2014 Park City CBC will take place on Sunday, December 14, 2014 starting at 8am and going until 5:00 PM (It's dark by then up here).  We will split up into several teams to cover areas from Jordanelle north to Jeremy Ranch and from Summit Park east to Rockport and Peoa.

For more information and to sign up visit utahbirders.com/cbc

We will begin meeting at 7:30am at the Park City Bread & Bagel:
http://bagels.adamfehr.com/pcbb-area-map/

The CBC is a free event, but we encourage anyone who participates to donate $5 to our ongoing conservation effort for birds here in Utah.

If you have any questions feel free to visit us at utahbirders.com/cbc, or contact us at utah.birders@gmail.com or call Tim at 801-440-3035 or Nate at 970-978-1804 natebrown3@hotmail.com.


SIGN UP FOR THE CBC HERE

Saturday, December 21st, the Utah Birders held our 3rd Annual Park City CBC.  This year 9 birders took part during the blustery winter day in Park City and unofficially tallied 52 species.  The day started with the group meeting first thing at Kneader’s in Newpark for a little breakfast, before we split into groups and headed out to scour the 8 sections of the count.  Four teams comprised of 2’s or 3’s headed out to the 4 main quadrants--City, Mountain, Canyon, and Lake to get the day started.

The Lakes

Kenny Frisch and I took the lakes portion of the count, which is mostly spent scanning the hopefully open water of the 2 reservoirs that lie in the count circle.  We started the day off taking I-80 east to Wanship to check the Weber River below Rockport Reservoir.  In Wanship a TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE was perched in the tallest pine in town.  At the river were numerous AMERICAN ROBINS and a few MALLARDS, but no other waterbirds.  3 MUSKRAT were sitting out in the open, while a BALD EAGLE flyby provided excellent looks.

Bald Eagles were prevalent this year on the count

From Wanship we headed towards Rockport where we had a NORTHERN SHRIKE just below the dam.  The reservoir was frozen solid so no waterbirds.  At the inlet we picked up an AMERICAN DIPPER, and a small flock of CANADA GEESE were the only for the count.  Above the reservoir we saw several BALD EAGLES along the river.

American Dipper at Rockport

Next we headed over to Jordanelle to scan the north arm--if it were open.  Luckily it was and there were a number of waterbirds present.  Plenty of COMMON GOLDENEYE and COMMON MERGANSER.  Several GADWALL, LESSER SCAUP, and BUFFLEHEAD along with the usual Mallards rounded out our waterfowl effort.  We scored three species of Grebe with 5 WESTERN, a PIED-BILLED, and the best bird of the day, 2 very late HORNED GREBES.

Terrible record shot of 2 Horned Grebe at Jordanelle

The fog and snow made it difficult to san everything very well, but we figured we covered most of what was expected.  We were done with the lake pretty early, so headed over to Deer Valley Resort to check the ponds where a pair of BARROW’S GOLDENEYE were present with a Common Goldeneye and pair of Ring-necked Ducks.  We decided to run through South Snyderville Basin to check the warm springs, adding GREEN-WINGED TEAL to the count for the day. With some time left we made a quick drive north to The Preserve, but didn’t add any birds--just a couple of bull ELK.

Rocky Mountain Elk at the Preserve

The City

Alex Peterson recaps the city portion of the count:

We left the morning rendezvous point and headed east along the I-80 frontage road (Highland Dr) and the Swaner Preserve watching the posts for raptors.  Right before we reached the Old Ranch Road turn, we were rewarded with an AMERICAN KESTREL swooping down on a vole and then enjoying its earned breakfast on a post right next to the road.  An amazing start to our Park City CBC--which we only captured with memories.  We then headed along Old Ranch Road, turning into the Trailside Drive neighborhood to observe some feeders.  Many feeders were empty or frozen over; but we found three terrific feeders that were a hot bed of activity.  Besides the innumerable doves and starlings, we were rewarded with both MOUNTAIN and BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES.  We also counted some Mallards in the neighborhood ponds.  Despite the usual odd looks from the locals, we braved onward especially after one gentleman rewarded us with a vigorous #1 sign with his middle finger.  With that encouragement, we then headed past Trailside Park and over into the Silver Summit area neighborhoods.  Again, many empty feeders, but those that had seed not only rewarded the birds, but also us with plenty of activity.

Heading back to Old Ranch Road we crept slowly along counting the water birds (mostly Mallards, but also American Coot, RING-NECKED DUCK, and the only AMERICAN WIGEON of the count.  We also found a number of raptors including RED-TAILED and ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS on posts in the preserve.  Following Old Ranch Road to the end (and counting the chickadees on the way), we entered into the neighborhoods of Southwest Snyderville.  Regretfully only a couple of feeders in this area, but we continued to count the doves, magpies, starlings, robins, and mallards.  To finish our morning, we entered into the Canyon Resorts neighborhoods where we were rewarded with a WESTERN SCRUB-JAY and a friendly Canyon employee who kindly shared his diverse vocabulary and hand gestures when he was momentarily delayed by our bird counting efforts.  Not to end on a disparaging note, we also counted a BELTED KINGFISHER calmly perched alongside Hwy 224 by St. Mary's as well as a GREAT BLUE HERON.

The Mountains

Stephanie Dolmat-Connell and her husband Conor participated in their first ever Park City Christmas Bird Count (second CBC overall).   Recap from Stephanie:

We were given the mountain region and were tasked with finding as many species of birds as possible.  This sounds like a manageable task until you consider that we are fairly amateur birders that still have to reassure each other that we are, in fact, looking at a bird and not a bird stick or a bird tree or a bird rock.  But we set off determined to do all we could in the name of citizen science.  We headed first to Summit Park to see the infamous feeder off of Matterhorn Drive.  The owners of these several feeders, which gave me several ideas for my own yard, were very nice and even put out peanuts to bring in the STELLER’S JAY, among DOWNY and HAIRY WOODPECKERS, a NORTHERN FLICKER, both Mountain and Black-Capped Chickadees,CASSIN’S FINCHES, PINE SISKIN, and DARK-EYED JUNCOS.

Steller's Jay from the mountain section of the count.

We moved on to Pinebrook and found one friendly Chicago couple with several feeders with more siskins and finches, but not much else movement.  Driving by Utah Olympic Park gave us our three raptors of the day, including a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK and a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK along with an American Kestrel.  Moving southward on 224 to the golf course gave us some American Coots and some Common Goldeneyes.  All in all, we saw 18 different species and had a fun time reassuring each other that a robin was a robin and that we'll get better at IDing in the future.  Thanks to the crew for helping us with IDs and for a great morning of birding.

Rough-legged Hawk from the Mountain section.

The Canyons

The canyons group covered the area north of I-80, which this year didn't turn up a lot of birds.  In 2012 the feeders in the neighborhoods in this area produced some great finds--but with a typical winter it was quiet on the canyons front.

The afternoon...

After the morning we met at the Cafe Rio in Newpark to look over checklists and see what we had missed in the morning.  Several participants had to take off, so we regrouped and as one large team decided to head back to Jordanelle where hopefully with more visibility we could find a few more species of waterbird.

As we approached the entry station, a COYOTE ran across the road in front of us and then along side.  The 4th mammal species of the day

Coyote at Jordanelle

Scanning the north arm from the parking area, we didn’t add any new birds but did find a 3 HORNED GREBE, and a BARROW’S GOLDENEYE we had missed here earlier.  Alex spotted a pair of BALD EAGLES  in the trees on a far beach that no one else was even scanning, upping our total for the day.

Kenny scoping at Jordanelle

From the reservoir, we headed north into the developments on the northwest side of the lake.  There was a pond here we were alerted to by Nate who had seen good birds here in previous years.  On the way we had a mixed flock of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS and AMERICAN ROBINS, that also included one BREWER’S BLACKBIRD.  Along the road everyone in the group got great looks at our 2nd NORTHERN SHRIKE of the day.

Scoping at Jordanelle

At the entrance to the development we had a good view of a sliver of the reservoir that was open but had ice around the edge connected to the main body of the lake.  2 BALD EAGLES were sitting on the ice and in a tree here, while a huge flock of waterfowl sat in the small opening of water.  Scanning through them revealed 2 NORTHERN SHOVELERS, new for the day.  While we were there a flock of CEDAR WAXWING flew by, another new species for the day.

We made our quick stop at the pond Nate told us about, but didn’t add anything new for the day.  We headed back towards Park City--at the Silver Summit Exit, Kenny spotted 2 GOLDEN EAGLES in the distance, and the underpass housed a few ROCK PIGEONS.  We headed towards Pinebrook to check a  feeder out that Stephanie had told us about at lunch.  The feeder had both PINE SISKIN and CASSIN’S FINCH when we arrived, but not much else.  To end the day we headed to the feeders at the south end of Matterhorn in Summit Park.

Driving into Summit Park

As usual the birds were flocking.  New for the day was a calling RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, and we did get “Oregon”, “Pink-sided” and “Slate-colored” Dark-eyed Juncos.  While we watched a new count bird flew over in a pair of CLARK’S NUTCRACKERS.  In all 6 ended up passing over while we watched.

As the count came to an end we all parted ways, excited about what we might be able to do next year in expanding the count and upping participation.  Our obscure count nestled in Summit and Wasatch County has a lot of possibilities--but it needs some love from the birding and local community to really help it grow.  We were excited to have 4 locals take part this year and share their knowledge of the area--if we can double that next year 60 species for the count could be a real possibility.

As usual we had our miss list, which includes some shockers:  Song Sparrow was perhaps the biggest miss, while White-crowned Sparrow still eludes us for the count.  No Ruby-crowned Kinglets or Yellow-rumped Warblers.  No Western Meadowlarks, and again no game birds.  No California Gulls, no owls of any kind, and no Killdeer or Snipe.  

Thanks to Connor and Stephanie Dolmat-Connell, Alex Peterson, Nate Brown, Sarah Crane, Jeff Bilsky, Kenny Frisch, and Carl Ingwell for helping make this count a success again.  As long as we keep hitting 50 species a year, I think we’re doing pretty good!

Utah Birders Park City Christmas Bird Count 

Saturday, December 22, 2012

8am - 6pm

Sign Up for the CBC Now

We are pleased to announce the 2nd annual Utah Birders Park City Christmas Bird Count and invite you to participate! The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a census of birds performed annually in December and January by volunteer birders. The purpose is to provide population data for use in science, especially conservation biology--though many people participate just for fun.

The 2012 Park City CBC will take place on Saturday, December 22, 2012 starting at 8am and going until 6pm (or until there are not more birds to be seen). We will split up into several teams to cover areas from Jordanelle north to Jeremy Ranch and from Summit Park east to Rockport and Peoa.

We will announce a meeting location prior to the event, but it has not been determined at this time.

For the CBC we will split into smaller groups of 2-4 birders. Each team will be led by a member of the Utah Birders that will help identify the species encountered and share some information about the birds along the way. For those interested we will meet at 6:00pm after at a location TBD to compile all the checklists and share stories from the day.

THERE IS NO COST TO PARTICIPATE in this years CBC.  National Audubon Society has done away with their fees, and we will not be collection money as a fundraiser this year.

If you have any questions feel free to contact us at utah.birders@gmail.com or call Carl at 801-688-5017, Jeff at 801-842-4013, or Tim at 801-440-3035.

Sign Up for the CBC Now 

We hope to see you on the 2nd annual Park City CBC!
The Utah Birders

Fish Springs at sunrise

Fish Springs is a beautiful, yet harsh environment; it's a series of springs nestled in between the Dugway and Deep Creek mountain ranges. It's a 4 hour, desolate drive out there. There is no cell service, and weird things happen along the Pony Express road. The drive out can often be bland, but if you look hard enough, it's possible to see wild horses, antelope and a Prairie Falcon or two.

Jeff, Brittany Badger(Ingwell) and I went out to Fish Springs for the New Year's weekend to take place in their annual CBC. Brian Allen, the NWR manager was nice enough to let us spend two nights in the bunkhouse before and after the count. This year we had very few participants, I'm guessing most didn't want to make the long drive on a holiday weekend.

 Me, Brittany, Jeff Bilsky

The night before the count, the three of us went out on the refuge for a little owling. There is a picnic area with a few majestic cottonwoods, and that's where we decided to call for owls. It was a crisp night, and the leafless cottonwood skeletons towered over us, the only barrier between us and the luminous stars (sometimes it's good to get out of the city lights). After five minutes of inactivity, we decided to pack it up and move on. As we were leaving, we heard two very loud calls, saying "who's awake? Me toooooooooo." We bailed out of the car for the second time, and two silhouettes stood atop the cottonwoods. A pair of Great Horned Owls serenaded each other for five minutes or so, then flew away together.

The count started at 9 AM the next morning. Immediately upon leaving the bunkhouse we spotted a mixed flock of Dark-Eyed Juncos and American Tree Sparrows. A moment after that, Jeff refound a Townsend's Solitaire that we had spotted the day before. Our morning was off to a good start.

We walked over to the NWR office for some logistics before the count. Brian Allen, the refuge manager gave us our assignments, and we were off. Just outside the office, we spotted another mixed flock; this one contained more Tree Sparrows, Juncos, a Spotted Towhee, and a Robin.

Before birding the refuge, Jeff, Brittany and I birded just beyond the refuge gates in a spot where I have often found Sage Sparrows. We were lucky enough to find the only four Sage Sparrows of the count, and one of them gave us great looks. The Sage Sparrow is a beautiful bird with a very memorable song, so I am always excited to see them.

The birding on the refuge was a little slow (from what I remember in years past), but we did pick up some good birds. A Great Egret flew around our car for five minutes or so, we ran into an Eared Grebe, and saw a good sized flock of Tundra Swans. I was quite disappointed because the Fish Springs count is one of the few spots I see American Bittern; this year I saw none.

 I think I was scoping a group of ducks

After lunch, we met up with the other team (Valerie Frokjer and Nathan Darnell), and we headed down to some of the southern springs. We got out to chat at one of the springs, and as Valerie was walking towards the phragmites, a couple hundred birds flushed out. A group of ducks headed to the left, and 32 Black-Crowned Night-Herons headed to the right. I didn't ID the ducks because I was too busy looking at the Night-Herons; it was one of the bigger groupings of that species that I have ever seen. Night-Herons are a little beautiful and a little awkward in flight; Jeff made a good observation when he said that they fly a little bit like owls.

After that, the day ended with the great duck flush of Fish Springs (I'm not going to explain this one; you have to be there to experience it); the teams picked up a few duck species that we didn't get previously on the count.

It was a pretty good day. The count had 49 species, and our team had 34 species for the day.

We had a great time. The scenery is majestic, the birds are great, and it's always good to see our old friend, Jay Banta. The Fish Springs count is an annual tradition for me, and I always look forward to it. I suggest that every Utah birder does this count at least once in their life.

Carl

It was a great day to be a Utah Birder!  We kicked off our first ever Park City CBC event with 14 participants on what started as a freakishly cold morning and turned into a beautiful day.  Let me start by just saying thank you to everyone who took part in our inaugural CBC for Park City.  The people are what makes an event like this so much fun.  It's a strange place to go without a CBC for so long, especially given the population and proximity to Salt Lake.  When we chose Park City these were just a couple of the reasons that helped guide our decision.  Perhaps more interesting was the fact that Park City rarely generates any reports of birds during the winter months.  The occasional feeder report, a tourist mentioning something from the slopes, or a a random report form Summit Park usually make up the annual mix.  But surely there must be more to his area in the winter months, and the CBC was a perfect way to start finding out more.

Park City CBC Count Circle

The count circle was centered near US-40 and I-80.  This allowed us to go west to Summit Park, east to Rockport Reservoir and Peoa, and south to the north half of Jordanelle Reservoir.  To the north we didn't do a whole lot of research, or really any birding, so that will be for future CBCs.  In any event this gave us a great variety of habitats and for future events will be very easy to break into smaller quadrants.  This year we opted to try a different approach as the majority of the group had never birded in the Park City area.  We decided to load up in a few vehicles field trip style and use this year to scout the entire count circle, and allow everyone to get a better feel for the most common birds in the area.  Kim Roush and her husband who are quite familiar with the area set off on their own to check out some private areas, as well as search for some local specialties  I think most of the group would agree that this worked out fairly well as everyone got to see the vast majority of the birds we encountered.

To the birds!

I hit the mountains early--about 5:30am and I was in Summit Park whistling for Saw-whet and Pygmy Owls like a mad man.  I was shocked having two cars pass me on Matterhorn Drive in the pitch black.  Surely they thought I was a mad man--why in the hell is this guy standing on the edge of the road in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere?  Well the mad man in the middle of nowhere thing panned out in the form of one NORTHERN PYMGY-OWL who gave into my whistling and responded with a few short toots, and a rapid chatter before going silent.  What a great 1st bird for the CBC.  It would be the only owl that I was bale to find.  I drove the lower section of Jeremy Ranch Road hoping for a Great Horned Owl, then around Snyderville Basin through the marshes and grasslands thinking maybe a Barn or Short-eared may appear.  The temperature gauge in my car read 7 degrees at 7:00am.  In the first light of the day I managed to turn up my only 3 other species in a small flock of Mallards, a couple American Robins, and 2 fly-by RING-NECKED DUCKS.

At 7:30 I met with the rest of the group and we organized into our respective vehicles then headed out. We drove through the neighborhoods are Park City looking for feeders, and songbirds. Lots of House Finches, and Black-capped Chickadees followed, and slowly we picked up Siskin, Juncos, Scrub-Jays, and doves.  There seemed to be chickadees everywhere in the morning.  One flock led us to our only Sharp-shinned Hawk perched low in a bush on a hillside.  More chickadees led to Mountain Chickadees and goldfinches.  The species diversity was slim, but the abundance was quite impressive.  We spent some time looking for open water on a number of ponds around the city.  Time after time we struck out on the water.  All was frozen, and any that might have been open we weren't able to get looks at.  Mid morning we headed west out of the city towards Summit Park to get away from the hustle and bustle of the cars, and into the action with the mid-elevation conifer species.

Summit Park provided our fill of the birds we expected--but also quite a few more cars than normal.  On the way up we ran into the Beyer's who were in search of the Pygmy-Owl without luck.  We added several TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, HAIRY WOODPECKER, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, and STELLER'S JAY.  There were lots of siskin and juncos as well--Carl and Eric Peterson found a GRAY-HEADED JUNCO; I can't remember another winter report form northern Utah so that was an awesome find. On the drive back towards Park City we added our only Red-tailed Hawk of the day just off I-80 near the tubing hill at Jeremy Ranch.  After a brief lunch we packed back in the cars and headed out around Swaner Nature Center.  The fields were empty, and the birds were few and far between.  Then we found a pond with some open water and things got a little better.  Aside from the Mallards on the water, we added Canada Goose, American Wigeon, more Ring-necked Ducks, Redhead, Green-winged Teal, Common Goldeneye, and American Coot.  While we watched the waterfowl we had both GOLDEN and BALD EAGLES fly over in a matter of minutes.  This stop added the most species for the day and was a welcome kickoff to the afternoon.

Tundra Swan in Peoa was a great find for the day

We continued to the east and then south to Jordanelle which was completely free of ice.  This surprise didn't add a lot of species--but did make for a nice break to scan the open water.  11 BUFFLEHEADS were a highlight, as well as 1 CALIFORNIA GULL (the only of the day).  A huge raft of Coots, several Canada Geese, and Common Goldeneye rounded out the birds that we picked out. We kept going east to Peoa, where we added our first Kingfisher of the day along the Weber River.  A couple hundred yards further along the road, Carl spotted a lone Swan in a small creek.  WE flipped around to take a look.  At first glance the bill looked massive and like it may be a Trumpeter.  But once in binocular and then after some closer looks it was just a TUNDRA SWAN--still a great bird for an odd location, and our only of the day!  We ended the day at Rockport State Park and then on the Weber River below.  At the entrance station near the inlet we had a beautiful NORTHERN SHRIKE and another Kingfisher. We tried up and down the east side of the lake for titmouse without any luck.  Another Solitaire and Bald Eagle did give us some great looks.  Rockport was a different story from Jordanelle in that it was 98% frozen.  There were several small patches of water which didn't have much on it.  In the middle of the lake on the ice was a small flock of Canada Geese accompanied by a few GADWALL and American Wigeon.  As we drove, Carl again spotted what he thought was a grebe.  After pulling over we confirmed it was a WESTERN GREBE on a small piece of open water.  Morse surprising, and sad however, was a single COMMON LOON stuck on the ice in the middle of the lake.  We watched as it tried to flap several times along the ice to get to water.  Unfortunately, I don't think there is much hope for this late loon.

The last new bird of the day was a female HOODED MERGANSER in the same location, but on a big chunk of open water.  It was our 48th species of the day and a great way to end this first CBC.  The Roush’s added ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, and AMERICAN DIPPER to top 50 species for the day.  As with most CBCs the surprise were great, and the misses were kind of shocking.

White-crowned Sparrow, Cassin's Finch, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Western Meadowlark, Great Blue Heron, Loggerhead Shrike, Cooper's Hawk, and Barrow's Goldeneye among others.

A complete list from the day  follows:

Canada Goose        
Tundra Swan        
Gadwall        
American Wigeon        
Mallard        
Green-winged Teal        
Redhead        
Ring-necked Duck        
Bufflehead        
Common Goldeneye        
Hooded Merganser        
Common Loon        
Western Grebe        
Bald Eagle        
Sharp-shinned Hawk        
Red-tailed Hawk  
Rough-legged Hawk    
Golden Eagle        
American Kestrel        
American Coot        
Killdeer        
California Gull        
Rock Pigeon        
Eurasian Collared-Dove        
Mourning Dove        
Northern Pygmy-Owl        
Belted Kingfisher        
Downy Woodpecker        
Hairy Woodpecker        
Northern Flicker        
Northern Shrike        
Steller's Jay        
Western Scrub-Jay        
Black-billed Magpie        
Common Raven        
Black-capped Chickadee        
Mountain Chickadee        
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Golden-crowned Kinglet
American Dipper      
Townsend's Solitaire        
American Robin        
European Starling        
Cedar Waxwing        
Song Sparrow        
Dark-eyed Junco        
Red-winged Blackbird        
House Finch        
Pine Siskin        
American Goldfinch        
House Sparrow      

Well, if I don't hear or see one of these on the X-mas bird count saturday, I can at least count it since its thursday today.

If anyone wants to take a stab at the answer, feel free

Utah Birders Park City Christmas Bird Count 

Sunday, December 18, 2011

8am - 5pm

Sign Up for the CBC Now

We are pleased to announce the first ever Utah Birders Park City Christmas Bird Count and invite you to participate! The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a census of birds performed annually in December and January by volunteer birders. The purpose is to provide population data for use in science, especially conservation biology--though many people participate just for fun.

The 2011 Park City CBC will take place on Sunday, December 18, 2011 starting at 8am and going until 6pm (or until there are not more birds to be seen). We will split up into several teams to cover areas from Jordanelle north to Jeremy Ranch and from Summit Park east to Rockport and Peoa.


We will begin meeting at 7:30am in Park City at the Whole Foods at 1748 West Redstone Center Drive If you take exit 145 (Kimball Junction) on I-80 then go south the store is just east of hwy 224 just south of the interstate:

http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/store-locations/?storeabbr=PKC#map_top

The Whole Foods will be providing a fruit tray for us to snack on before we head out for the day--you can also purchase other items for breakfast while we chat before heading out.  We will hand out checklists, maps and any other materials as well as breaking into teams if needed.

Each team will be led by a member of the Utah Birders that will help identify the species encountered and share some information about the birds along the way. For those interested we will meet at 6:00pm after at a location TBD to compile all the checklists and share stories from the day. 

The cost to participate is $10 per person or $25 for families of 3 or more. $5 will go to cover the cost from the National Audubon Society. From that you will receive a copy of the report the following spring detailing findings form CBCs across the country. The other $5 will go to our local charity that the Utah Birders sponsor. 

If you have any questions feel free to contact us at utah.birders@gmail.com or call Carl at 801-688-5017, Jeff at 801-842-4013, or Tim at 801-440-3035.

Sign Up for the CBC Now 

We hope to see you on the 1st ever Park City CBC!
The Utah Birders

I am pretty sure the title of this probably just sent a number of people into a furor, with a, "How dare he!" or "what does he know?" But before anyone stops reading and writes an angry comment, read on.

The key word in the title of this post is "data".

We have Big Sits, Thanksgiving Bird Counts, Christmas Bird Counts, The Great Backyard Bird Count, and so on and so forth. All of these counts happen on the same day, or week, every year, and some have been going on more than 100 years. There is no doubt that these counts have provided a checklist or series of checklists that over time have created a larger checklist, and shown trends year in and year out. But in retrospect, they are just one day, or one week, and every year there are going to be factors that can skew results year in and out.

The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a prime example of this. Each year these counts are held all over the nation and information is gathered, put onto a checklist and then added to the history of that count and that years data. A CBC can be a lot of fun, and it's a tradition well worth keeping and taking part in if you haven't already. But let me for a minute talk about data.

During a CBC we count birds at a number of locations within a count circle for that one day. 1 day. It's one day, and that's where the data becomes irrelevant. On any given day you are going to see a certain number of species at a certain location, and year in and out you will see those same birds. Some days you will see a few different, other days you will miss a few. Every once in a while you will see something rare. But it's just one day and historically if a count has been around for 100 years that is 100 days of data, over 100 years. It gives a peak into a historical time line of that specific count, but as a tool for measuring bird trends it is lacking in enough information.

I would argue eBird is a far more valuable counting system, and will be long into the future than any of these counts. eBird allows any number of people to enter information from anywhere they would like, as many times a day from as many locations as they would like—as often as they would like. This means that any number of people over the month of December could enter all their checklists and have a pretty good data set for the month for locations, for counties, and even the entire state. And every year this information grows, and shows a much more complete picture of what is going on with birds in the state each year.

Currently there are far too few people using eBird out of the vast number of birders that are out there. I would opine that a lot of this has to do with the generational gap. Most young birders are quite religious with using eBird to keep track of sightings. Let's face it, we grew up with the computer age, we like things to be easy, and nothing is easier than eBird for keeping track of sightings. That's not to say that older generations don't use the program, but in terms of birders, there are far fewer younger birders than older, and vice versa those older birders are using programs like eBird far less than the younger birders.

If you've made it this far, I will end by saying I do think that these counts are valuable in a number of ways. They DO add valid data sets to the overall picture. On any CBC I have taken part in I have added my lists into eBird—and many birders do the same. It also give opportunities to introduce new, and younger birders to people who know the areas they are going to be counting in, and give them a taste of what the counts are about. Those birders are often experienced, and have quite a bit of knowledge to share, and are invaluable in spreading the interest in birds.

Great Salt Lake Audubon. Copyright Tim Avery

Let's face it; lots of us that participate in counts often are trying to see as many species as possible. The big number at the end of the day is exciting, and beating the year before, or the record excites people. It's fun, it gets people into counting, and it's memorable. Not everyone is, but I have been part of more counts than I can count on my ten fingers, where the grand total for species has been the cheering point.

The data collected is relevant in the big picture. As part of a data set as a whole it is just as important as every other data point. If it were the only measure, it would be missing far more important information than the historical information tied to the count. However, for the value it brings to advertising and marketing birding—it is invaluable.

Saturday, I participated in the Great Salt Lake Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC). A historical perspective of what these counts are about can be found at this link. My team consisted of just 3 total birders. We originally had a much larger cast but several cancellations trimmed it down to myself, Carl Ingwell, and Sarah Nelson. The count is segmented into territories, and for the 4th year in a row, I was assigned to an area that includes the town of Bountiful, a few miles North of Salt Lake City. Bountiful is unique in that it includes Mueller Park, a montane habitat and one of the few places within the count radius to find certain species. So naturally we maximized our time there, but we also drove all around searching neighborhoods, parks and the local cemetery for whatever species we could find. Anyone interested in a comprehensive list, please contact me and I'll forward our counts for the day.

The biggest surprise was a group of Wild Turkeys at Bountiful Ridge Golf Course. We had never seen them in this area before and were shocked. We counted 28 total, many of which you can see in the below photo.

It's always interesting what you come across spending an entire day scouring an area for all signs of bird life. It is a game of slamming brakes, illegal U-turns, shouting, taunting, and a lot of coffee. On this day, we also built a couple of incredible snowmen and then took turns destroying them with full-body tackles.

In the late afternoon, after trudging through the snow in Mueller Park and finding at least a few of our montane targets (Steller's Jay, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Brown Creeper), we called it a day. We were cold. We were tired. But we had fun.

There is always a post-count party to meet up with other teams and share in some food and drink and discuss what was seen. The last few years it has been in a banquet room at the Tracy Aviary. My brain, infused by both a day of relentless bird counting and a healthy amount of celebratory drink, attempted to add a number of the exotics living in the aviary to our day's list. I don't think anyone was as amused as I was. I guess talking to the birds and asking them if they want to be on our list in a loud and obnoxious voice isn't always the best way to make yourself look intelligent.

If you haven't participated in a CBC, make it a point to do so....