It was a record-breaking year! We smashed the prior record of 71 species set in 2018 that was again tied in 2024 -- with 76 species seen on count day 2025 and an additional 4 species for count week. Wow.
We had some new folks this year and hope you all enjoyed the count. Thanks as always for joining in.
Now for a few stats.
We had a high temperature record for the count of 54 degrees F -- the previous high I have on file is 45 degrees F. No snow this year and warm weather for weeks before the count made for a diverse species list this year.
We had four new species for the count! Finally, we added Cedar Waxwing (Fulton, Nan and Mike, and Woodruff) which can be difficult in winter in the region, and other times easy to find. The rare Pacific Loon and late Ruddy Ducks found earlier in the week hung on for the count (Schreven team). I flushed a Ruffed Grouse along Cheney-Spangle Rd near Turnbull, rare in the area. Also, new for the count checklist as "count week" birds -- I had a Greater Scaup, and a flyby flock of California Gulls and 2 American Herring Gulls a few days before CBC day, at Granite Lake.
Species found only for the second year ever -- we had Ring-billed Gull (Goodwin team), Eared Grebe (Woodruff), Common Loon (Schreven team), American Barn Owl (Woodruff), Western Bluebird (Woodruff).
Owling for both me and for Joe Cooney was remarkably good! Between us we had 9 Northern Saw-whet Owls (heard only), and 11 Great Horned Owls (mostly heard only). I also found a Barn Owl that he was able to come over and get with me in the early morning. He and I have enjoyed getting up stupid early (starting around 2-3am) to see what we can find splitting up to different parts of the circle, and this year really paid off with lots of activity.
I wish I could give all credit where credit is due. I appreciate each and every team. We had a number of birds found only by one team this year. Some examples include Great Blue Heron, Green-winged Teal, and Ring-billed Gull by the Goodwin crew; Tundra Swan, Northern Shoveler, Canvasback, Pied-billed Grebe, the loons, and Lesser Goldfinch by the Sandy Schreven and Roger Woodruff team. Mike Fulton and crew had the only Golden-crowned Kinglets. There were many other tough species seen or heard this year like Virginia Rail by both Isacoff and the Cheney Wetlands group, Mourning Dove in surprisingly small numbers by a few, and Pine Siskin by both Peggy and Tim, and the Goodwin team.
For those who love the stats and numbers -- new high count records were set for:
Gadwall (176 - was 99)
Northern Pintail (27 - was 9)
Ring-necked Duck (100 - was 69)
Hooded Merganser (47 - was 18)
Common Merganser (319 - was 253)
Rock Pigeon (470 - was 260)
Virginia Rail (5 - was 2)
Ring-billed Gull (7 - was 3)
Great Horned Owl (14 - was 8)
Northern Saw-whet Owl (9 - was 4)
Hairy Woodpecker (14 - was 13)
Northern Flicker (138 - was 102)
Common Raven (146 - was 76)
Black-capped Chickadee (148 - was 112)
Mountain Chickadee (67 - was 55)
White-breasted Nuthatch (43 - was 34)
Pygmy Nuthatch (268 - was 240)
Marsh Wren (21 - was 18)
Western Bluebird (9 - was 1)
Townsend's Solitaire (6 - was 4)
American Robin (551 - was 220)
House Finch (423 - was 352).
So many records were broken this year.
A total of 13,869 individuals were tallied. That's a new record too, up from 12,219 in 2021.
I'll get the results officially submitted to the CBC soon. Thank you all for your participation. We'll count again next year on the first weekend of the count window. Until then.
Thanks again,
Michael Woodruff
