New Year’s Day Bird Count Results

Thousands of birders across the country participated in the 114^th Audubon Christmas Bird Count. The citizen science project has been tallying birds for over a century and documents the different bird species in North America and also tracks changes in nesting and migration patterns. The count takes place from December 14^th to January 5^th each year.

Eastern Bluebirds and Cedar Waxwings hanging out together.

The count at Little River Park has taken place for the last three years on New Year’s Day. This year’s count started at 9:00am and volunteers spent the first day of the New Year combing the trails, focusing on the feeders and ticking their checklists. Over 20 different species of birds were seen or heard with our citizen scientists covering a combined total of over 10 miles of trails.

Here are the results from this year’s count:

Weather Conditions:

	A.M.	P.M.
Sky Conditions	Partly Cloudy	Mostly Cloudy
Wind Direction and Velocity	Calm	South/4-6 mph
Temperature	33°F	51°F

 Checklist Results:
 

Black Vulture	American Crow	Eastern Bluebird
Turkey Vulture	Carolina Chickadee	Northern Mockingbird
Red-tailed Hawk	Tufted Titmouse	Brown Thrasher
Red-bellied Woodpecker	White-breasted Nuthatch	Pine Warbler
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	Brown Creeper	White-throated Sparrow
Downy Woodpecker	Golden-crowned Kinglet	Dark-eyed Junco
Hairy Woodpecker	Ruby-crowned Kinglet	American Goldfinch
Pileated Woodpecker

Volunteers walked various trails throughout the park, checking off all the species of birds they saw or were able to identify by vocalization.

Feeder Results:

Black Vulture	7	Eastern Bluebird	6
Red-bellied Woodpecker	2	Cedar Waxwing	10
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	1	Pine Warbler	1
Northern Flicker	1	Eastern Towhee	1
Blue Jay	1	Chipping Sparrow	1
American Crow	7	Field Sparrow	1
Carolina Chickadee	2	White-throated Sparrow	10
Tufted Titmouse	3	Dark-eyed Junco	6
White-breasted Nuthatch	1	Northern Cardinal	5
Carolina Wren	1	American Goldfinch	2

Participants watched the feeders located behind the park office and the areas within view of the feeders. Some of the birds listed will not eat at bird feeders but may be seen in the vicinity.

For more information on the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count, go to www.christmasbirdcount.org. Participating in the count is free. To participate in next year’s bird count, contact park staff at littleriverpark@orangecountync.gov.