Each year as part of our annual winter banquet we announce the Bear Creek Watershed Bird-of-the-Year for the prior year and honor those folks who successfully completed our annual Birding Challenge.

Often in mid-winter the reservoirs of eastern Colorado can become largely or, in the case of the smaller reservoirs, completely frozen over.  At that time waterfowl tend to congregate in large numbers on the main rivers and creeks.  The South Platte just north of downtown Denver appears to be particularly attractive.

While through the course of our 54-year history we’ve averaged about 5,800 birds representing 47 species, this year we recorded about 8,800 birds representing 50 species. And, we added a species never recorded before on our Christmas Bird Count – Pacific Wren.