There were a few things above average this year – the temperature was not too cold, we had more individual birds for many of our regularly occurring species, and we had about a thousand more total birds than average.  What was not average this year was the amount of bare ground with no snow and the high number of species we ended up getting.  We had 81 field workers in 28 groups who managed to record 5,108 birds, which is about average for us, with our Squaw Pass team once again leading the way by having five teams collectively hike 18.5 miles and log 23.5 party-hours on foot. However, as with last year, it was our Feeder-Counters that really gave things a boost.  We had 44 this year, almost twice as many as we’ve had historically, and they recorded 1,471 birds, which is about 155% above average.  Consequently, our final count of 6,579 birds was close to a thousand more than we tend to expect.

So, how do our results for 2021 fit in with what we’ve seen in recent years?  For starters we missed a few species that would have been great such as Dusky Grouse, Northern Goshawk, Bushtit, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Canyon Wren, and the three Rosy-Finch species, and we had low numbers for Mallard, American Robin, Evening Grosbeak, Cassin’s Finch, and Red Crossbills.  Nonetheless, we had a great count!  We had new high numbers for Downy Woodpecker (62) and Steller’s Jay (647), and we tied our high count for Northern Shrike (13).  We also picked up a few species that we don’t always get: Canada Goose, Bald Eagle, Great Horned Owl, Northern Pygmy Owl, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Common Redpoll, American Goldfinch, and American Tree Sparrow.  And then, to top it off we had three species that in all our fifty-three years of conducting the Evergreen-Idaho Springs Christmas Bird Count we’ve only had a couple of times: Northern Saw-whet Owl, Brown Thrasher, and Yellow-rumped Warbler.  All of these less-common species helped us arrive at a grand total this year of 54 species, well above our average of 47.

You may recall that we are in a friendly competition with over 2500 other CBCs across the Western Hemisphere regarding our numbers of Mountain Chickadees and Pygmy Nuthatches.  We have been Mountain Chickadee world champs for thirteen years, and we’ve been Pygmy Nuthatch world champs a few times in that same period.  We are once again well placed to be champs for both species for this year’s Christmas Bird Count.  We had 771 Mountain Chickadees, and anything over 500 puts us in the running.  As for Pygmy Nuthatch, we had 1,101, which gives us an excellent shot at having the highest count for them.

In getting things organized for this year, special thanks go out to those folks who stepped in at the last minute to create a team and make sure all our areas got covered: Rob Raker took on Genesee; Brad Andres helped with Kerr Gulch, and also covered Idaho Springs West; and Larry White covered both Upper Bear Creek and Vance Creek.  Special commendation goes to Marilyn Rhodes who with the help of Bob Santangelo shepherded a crew of fifteen folks around Evergreen East.  Many thanks to you guys!  Additional thanks go to all of our other regular area leaders who got their crews through the day: JoAnn Hackos, Else VanErp, David and Mitchell Bailey, Mark Meremonte, David Wald, Ed Furlong, Heather Johnson, and Dwight Souder.  And a special thanks to our Feeder Coordinator, Barbara Jean Gard.

Finally, after taking a hiatus last year due to Covid, it was wonderful to once again end our day of bird counting with a glorious evening of good fellowship, great food, and LIVELY data compilation at our Tally Rally.  Truly a wonderful end to the day!  Many thanks go to Rachel and Dave Hutchison for hosting the Tally Rally, to Rachel Hutchison and Lisa Wald for making the chili, to Stephanie Gomolka for organizing the potluck, to all those who contributed to the potluck, and to Brad Andres and Jon Deppe for compiling our data and entertaining us with both humorous and factual repartee.

Chuck Aid, Bird Monitoring Director

Bird species observed during the 2021 Evergreen-Idaho Springs Christmas Bird Count, the average number seen from 1969 to 2020, and the high count and year recorded for each species.  Bolded entries are high counts recorded in 2021.