On Saturday Dec. 16 we joined birders across North America and beyond in the largest and oldest Citizen Science project in the world, the Christmas Bird Count. Susan Marsh coordinated this year's Jackson Hole CBC and compiled the individual reports.
In total, 58 counters logged 86 hours and tallied 1,149 individual birds. On count day, 44 species were observed, and an additional six species were noted during count week. Unusual highlights were: 10 American Dippers, 98 Bald Eagles, 306 Ravens, two Golden Eagles, one Pygmy Owl, 117 Trumpeter Swans, one Red-Tailed Hawk, one Northern Shrike and one Wilson's Snipe. Much appreciation to Susan Marsh for her work each year to ensure that our valley's avian population is accounted for.
This year's totals included:
American Crow 2
American Dipper 10
American Goldfinch 45
American Tree Sparrow 40
American Widgeon 45
Bald Eagle 98
Barrow's Goldeneye 77
Belted Kingfisher 1
Bl.-capped Chickadee 109
Black-billed Magpie 123
Brewer's Blackbird 1
Brown Creeper cw
Bufflehead 8
Canada Goose 17
Clark's Nutcracker 35
Common Goldeneye 9
Common Merganser 7
Common Raven 306
Common Redpoll cw
Downy Woodpecker 5
Eurasian collared dove cw
European Starling 8
Evening grosbeak 5
Gadwall 14
Golden Eagle 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Gray Owl 1
Great Horned Owl 1
Green-winged Teal 39
Hairy Woodpecker 6
Hooded Merganser 2
House Finch 20
House Sparrow 6
Killdeer 2
Mallard 228
Mountain Chickadee 60
Mourning Dove 6
Northern Flicker cw
Northern Pigmy Owl 1
Northern Pintail 1
Northern Shrike 1
Pine Siskin cw
Red-br. Nuthatch 6
Red-tailed hawk cw
Ring-necked Duck 6
Rough-legged Hawk 2
Steller’s Jay 14
Townsend's Solitaire 1
Trumpeter Swan 117
White-br. Nuthatch 2
Wilson's Snipe 1
Total species count day 44
Count week 6
Total individuals all species 1491
Total number of counters 58
Hours counted 86
If you would like information about identifying Jackson Hole birds in winter, download Susan's pdf, "Selected Winter Birds of Jackson Hole," by clicking HERE.