Record Number of Volunteers Participate in the 76th Annual Burlington Winter Bird Count
Contributed by Larry Clarfeld and Liza Morse
On a mild but cloudy day in December, 75 birders braved gusty winds to count birds in the greater Burlington area for the 76th annual Winter Bird Count (known nationally as the Christmas Bird Count – the name change only applies locally, but follows several other Vermont counts in embracing a more inclusive moniker). Two teams also contributed to the count’s owling effort, and a team of 11 birders took on the behemoth task of counting the Burlington area crow roost. In addition to several record-high bird counts, this year we were excited to set a record for the number of volunteers! In total, volunteers documented 68 species and 15,042 individual birds!
Waterfowl were reasonably represented this year. Scaup were down from the record >10,000 found last year but were still present in respectable numbers, with over 5,000 found in Sector 2. Two Wood Ducks continue an increasing trend for that species, and two Long-tailed Ducks on Shelburne Bay represent the first found since 2020 and only the second time found since 2015.
Three Double-crested Cormorants were the highest count for this species in the last 10 years but well below the record count of 251. Common Loon tied its record-high count of 19, achieved in both 2018 and 2020.
Raptors were not seen in the record-breaking numbers of last year, except for Bald Eagle, which set a new record high count with 19. Vultures were unheard of on the Burlington count prior to 2017, yet now seem to be regulars, with 1 Black Vulture and 4 Turkey Vultures tallied. A single Peregrine Falcon was tallied, and the less common Merlin tied its previous high count, with 2 found. The owling teams documented two Northern-Saw-whet Owls – tying the previous high count – including a remarkable sighting of a Saw-whet hunting in the wild. The crow roost team, led again by Teage O’Connor, noted between 5,000 and 10,000 crows approaching the roost in Burlington, including several Fish Crows.
Many of the forest-dwelling songbirds were seen in fair numbers, with some species having above-average years, such as Red-breasted Nuthatch, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Brown Creeper. After a record year last year, ground-dwelling birds, such as Snow Bunting and Horned Lark, were absent. Northern Shrike was also absent. Carolina Wren, on the other hand, set a new high count, with 36 seen (ten more than the previous high count).
Of the irruptive songbird species, frugivores were pretty much absent after a strong year in 2022, with neither Bohemian Waxwing nor Pine Grosbeak. Winter finches were more of a mixed bag. Redpolls and Evening Grosbeaks were absent, but 33 Pine Siskins were found, and for the second year in a row (and only the 2nd time since the 1980s), Red Crossbills put in an appearance with confirmed records of both Type 12 and Type 2 crossbills.
With the increasing use of eBird by Bird Count participants, this year, we experimented with using eBird’s “Trip Report” feature. As of the writing of this summary, over 15 eBirders and 62 checklists are included in the report, which also boasts photos and audio of a number of the documented species. The eBird trip report can be viewed here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/182621. Full count results can be viewed here: https://netapp.audubon.org/CBCObservation/CurrentYear/ResultsByCount.aspx.
If you are interested in participating in next year’s count, please contact burlingtoncbc@gmail.com and mark your calendars for Sunday, December 15, 2024!