Every Bird Counts

I had the pleasure of taking part in 2 Christmas Bird Counts over the New Year weekend; the Tallahassee count, which took place on New Year's Day, and the Jackson County count, which took place the day after on January 2nd. For the Tallahassee count I counted in section 4, and had a really good day. During the 10 hours we were in the field, our team of four intrepid birders counted a total of 1,076 birds of 76 species including Brown Creeper, Virginia Rail, and 2 Golden-crowned Kinglets. Yellow-rumped Warbler (249) and Ruby-crowned Kinglet (141) were the two most abundant species in our section.



This Blue-headed Vireo was one of 6 we counted on the Tallahassee CBC



Ruby-crowned Kinglet was the second most numerous species we counted

The Jackson County count is always a great experience and this seasons count lived up to expectations. The number of actual birds we counted was below average, but the 20mph winds and cold temps certainly had an effect on our effort. Jackson County has also been experiencing a prolonged drought so there was very little standing water throughout much of the count circle. My team of 3 ended up counting 11,987 birds of 56 species. Red-winged Blackbird (10,230) was easily our most numerous species. Highlights included 7 Horned Larks, Grasshopper Sparrow, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and 221 American Pipits.

Jackson County is the best county in Florida to see Horned Larks. A total of 22 were counted during this years CBC.

If you want more information on what species were seen in Florida during this years Christmas Bird Count season, click on the following link.

http://birds.audubon.org/data-research

Andy Wraithmell