On Sunday, Dec. 18th, Evergreen Audubon will conduct the 54th annual Christmas Bird Count for the Evergreen/Idaho Springs area. This is one of about 2500 Christmas counts held each year throughout the Western Hemisphere, and one of about fifty held here in Colorado.  Historically, the Christmas Bird Counts began in 1900, at which time there were 27 count circles from Toronto to Pacific Gove and they recorded a grand total of 90 species.

On our count day we will head out in small groups to find as many species and individual birds as we can in a 15-mile-diameter circle that extends from Robinson Hill Road on the north to just south of the Brook Forest Inn; and from near Echo Lake on the west to the bottom of Kerr Gulch on the eastern side. Folks of all abilities and ages are encouraged to participate by joining one of our fourteen groups for all, or part, of the day.

If getting outside seems a bit daunting in mid-December, we also need people to stay at home and count the birds that come to their feeders. Feeder-counters made a huge difference in last year’s results.  Contact me, Chuck Aid, at birdmon@evergreenaudubon.org, if you would like to be a feeder counter.

Each year several interesting stories emerge from our day in the field. In 2014 it snowed all day and drove large numbers of Pine Grosbeaks and Cassin’s Finches down from the higher elevations. In 2015 we had gloriously mild weather allowing us to record almost 2000 more individual birds than the prior year, and to set a new record for our area of 57 species. Then, 2016 was the Year of the Juncos with 2171 individuals of this one species. 2017 was the No Snow Year leading to low counts for the Rosy-Finches. In 2018 we trumped ourselves again by finding 58 species, and we did well with species from both lower and higher elevations.  2019 brought us a pair of Trumpeter Swans; and 2020, the Covid count, was truly incredible with a doubling of our number of feeder-counters to 51, and, subsequently, an all-time high number of birds, 9197, and a remarkable 1101 Pygmy Nuthatches. Finally, last year we again had great feeder-counter participation, which helped boost our final count to 6,579 birds, about a thousand more than we get on average.

As usual, this year we will continue to pay special attention to the Mountain Chickadees and Pygmy Nuthatches, looking for high counts in the hope that we can continue to be the world champs for both of these species. We’ve been the Mountain Chickadee world champs for several years in a row now, but the Pygmy Nuthatch competition has been more nip and tuck.

After a full day of counting birds, participants are invited to one of Evergreen Audubon’s premier events of the year – the Tally Rally. This is a traditional pot-luck supper, where we share our findings and adventures of the day. This year’s hosts will be Lisa and David Wald, who have generously made their home available for the occasion.

You are invited to attend Evergreen Audubon’s Dec. 1 chapter meeting where you can learn more about the Christmas Bird Count, talk with area leaders, practice identifying birds, sign up to be a feeder counter, and, also, sign up to bring a dish to the potluck.

You may register here on-line for the bird counting portion of the day, and I will get in touch with you to help find a group for you to join, or, if you are an old hand at this, you may just get in touch with whatever area leader you have gone out with previously, or you can wait for an area leader to initiate contact. The bottom line – if you want to make sure that you are in the loop, register here, and I will be in touch.

To register for the Tally Rally at the end of the day please go to (https://evergreenaudubon.org/events/christmas-bird-count-tally-rally-2022/)

Thanks,
Chuck Aid, Director of Bird Monitoring