2024 Christmas Bird Count Results
Record Numbers of Birds Seen During Annual Survey
by Bruce Christensen
On the morning of Friday, December 27, sixty-one birders, part of the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count, divided in small teams gathered in blustery and chilly weather in Woodland, Davis, and areas around and in between and wandered in mindful ways, looking and listening and tallying any and all birds they could see or hear. As the day progressed the wind abated and the birders were left with a pleasant NorCal winter day. Over the course of the day, the birding teams cumulatively put in over 110 hours, traveled over 230 miles in the car, 70 miles on foot, and saw 144 different bird species (including two species seen earlier and later in the week, which also count towards the effort), setting a new record for the count (135 species were seen in 2023 and 139 in 2022).
Local birders (left to right): Trinity Headrick, Parker Christensen, and Harnawaz Boparai are at the Cache Creek Nature Preserve taking part in the 2024 Woodland/Davis Christmas Bird Count. Photo credit: Bruce Christensen
Here are some highlights:
- The highest count this year was European Starlings, due to the impressive murmurations flying over our agricultural fields. There were estimated to be over 20,000 starlings this year, compared with between 2000 and 3000 the past couple of years.
- The past two years’ counts were dominated by Snow Geese, with around 12,000 each year, but only 363 this year. Greater White-fronted Geese were also down quite a bit this year at 850 compared to 4674 last year. Ducks were relatively steady, though, with a couple exceptions. These fluctuations are likely due to where current wetland and feeding fields are located.
- Our rarest birds were an immature male Vermillion Flycatcher at the golf course entrance pond in Wild Wings, and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker along Putah Creek. Both birds are very uncommonly seen in the Central Valley.
- New birds for the count this year include: Bald Eagle, American Bittern, Western Screech-Owl, Prairie Falcon, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Tricolored Blackbird.
- Other unexpected birds reported include a Barn Swallow, a lingering Swainson’s Hawk, a Brant goose, and the Costa’s Hummingbird (the latter two seen only during count week).
- Promising news is that 6 Burrowing Owls were seen this year, up from 1 last year and 118 American Kestrels (up from 91 and 92 the previous two years). Both species are of special conservation concern in Yolo County. Conservation efforts to support both of these species include creating artificial nesting areas: wooden boxes on high poles for the kestrels and artificial underground burrows for the owls.
- Concerning news is the drop in all of our corvids. California Scrub-jays, American Crows, and Common Ravens are all down significantly from last year and our endemic Yellow-billed Magpie was at only 128 this year compared to 304 in 2023 and 160 in 2022. Possible causes may include West Nile Virus, which is particularly deadly for members of the crow family. The Yellow-billed Magpie is endemic to the California Central Valley, meaning it lives nowhere else on the planet.
Immature male Vermillion Flycatcher: This inconspicuous, beautiful bird was spotted in the trees around the entrance pond to the Wild Wings neighborhood in Woodland. Vermillion Flycatchers are uncommon and unexpected visitors to Yolo County. Photo credit: Joshua Greenfield
The tradition of the Christmas Bird Count started in 1900 when Frank Chapman and 26 other conservationists started counting all the bird species they could see on Christmas day. Prior to this, a similar bird count was held on Christmas using shotguns to tally species. Chapman and his band took a less invasive approach and holstered their binoculars instead of guns. The tradition has continued every year since and has grown to thousands of counts conducted annually across the continent, and the world. The effort generates invaluable data on early winter bird populations. Over 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers have been published using CBC data.
The Woodland/Davis CBC is young, in its third year in 2024, but has grown in popularity and effort each successive year. It is sponsored by the Cache Creek Conservancy (CCC) and details about past and future counts can be found on their website, including a complete list of birds seen each year (cachecreekconservancy.org). Three years is not enough time to make any meaningful comments on trends in our area, but every year is one more excellent dataset that will eventually help us to understand our environment better. If you are an interested birder (at any experience level) and would like to participate in next year’s count, contact the CCC and ask to be on their contact list.
Yellowlegs: The Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs can be difficult to distinguish from each other, unless a size difference is obvious when seen next to each other, as in this picture. Photo credit: Joshua Greenfield