7th Annual Lillooet Christmas Bird Count Summary
By
Ken Wright (compiler)
360 St. Paul Street W
Kamloops, BC V2C 1G4
kengwright@telus.net
Boxing Day 2006 marked the 7th Annual Lillooet Christmas Bird Count. A total of 12 volunteers scoured the landscape surrounding Lillooet for birds. Weather conditions were ideal on count day with mild temperatures (hovering around the zero mark) and little or no wind. It was another fabulous count with fifty-two species and 3409 individual birds tallied! Not too bad for a mid-winter day in the southern interior. A further six species were found during count week (3 days before and after count day) thus bringing the count week total to 58 species. Birds seen during count week but not on count day were: Wilson's Snipe, Great Horned Owl, White-breasted Nuthatch, Winter Wren, Cassin's Finch, and American Goldfinch. The species total was right on the 7-year average, however, the number of individual birds was way above the 7-year average of 1796 birds. This can be explained by the monster flock of Bohemian Waxwings that Karl Ricker tallied in the VLA. He estimated a conservative 1430 birds in one flock and a further 200 were observed by Maria Mascher and Chris Galliazo near Jones Pond (Texas Creek Road). So Bohemian Waxwings alone, account for 50% of the total birds!
Four new species were added to the list this year: Horned Grebe, American Coot, Marsh Wren, and Northwestern Crow. The Horned Grebe was initially found on Christmas Day on Seton Lake. Four American Coots were gathered in a small ice-free lead on Jones Pond and the Marsh Wren let out a single call at the same location. Karl Ricker observed nine Northwestern Crows in Lillooet.
We achieved new high counts for the following species: Great Blue Heron – 6; Bald Eagle – 17; Chukar – 29; Rock Pigeon – 41; Mourning Dove – 10; Northern Flicker – 25; Pileated Woodpecker – 3; Steller’s Jay – 15; Clark’s Nutcracker – 24; Common Raven – 268; Bohemian Waxwing – 1630. Corvids (members of the crow family) clearly had a good year in Lillooet with 3 species reaching there 7-year high count. Bald Eagles were in force with 7 more than the previous high count. This is somewhat surprising given that this is an off-year in the Seton River pink run. Equally surprising was the sparcity of Hairy Woodpeckers, which I had expected to increase with the spread of pine beetle killed forest. Perhaps they were working the higher elevation forests where coverage is weak.
Other notable observations in 2006 include:
- A flock of seven Trumpeter Swans gathered at a small opening in the ice on Cinquefoil Lake (see Fig. 1)
- A male Hooded Merganser with American Coots on Jones Pond
- Only fifty American Dippers were found in spite of extensive coverage on the Seton and Cayoosh -- this total falls well below the 7-year average of 72 birds
- Big misses: Canada Goose – first year missed (they were recently seen by Maria Mascher after count week); Rough-legged Hawk – two birds were seen during count week just outside of the official count circle between Fountain and Pavilion; American Robin – I guess the Bohemians kicked them out!
- Golden-crowned Kinglets were completely absent in spite of much searching in their usual habitat. This may have been a result of mortatlity from the cold winter storm that hit the area in November. Studies elsewhere have shown kinglets to suffer 100% mortality during such cold storms.
| Species | Total | Mean | Max | Species | Total | Mean | Max | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horned Grebe | 1 | 0.1 | 1 | Black-capped Chickadee | 51 | 38.7 | 61 | |
| Great Blue Heron | 6 | 3.1 | 6 | Mountain Chickadee | 16 | 21.4 | 50 | |
| American Wigeon | 2 | 1.0 | 4 | Chickadee sp. | 6 | 1.9 | 6 | |
| Trumpeter Swan | 7 | 1.1 | 7 | Red-breasted Nuthatch | 32 | 34.4 | 101 | |
| Mallard | 52 | 93.1 | 308 | White-breasted Nuthatch | CW | 0.4 | 2 | |
| Am. Green-winged Teal | 1 | 1.9 | 4 | Pygmy Nuthatch | 11 | 9.4 | 23 | |
| Bufflehead | 84 | 60.9 | 115 | Brown Creeper | 1 | 0.7 | 2 | |
| Common Goldeneye | 6 | 7.3 | 14 | Winter Wren | CW | 0.4 | 2 | |
| Barrow’s Goldeneye | 106 | 87.9 | 182 | Marsh Wren | 1 | 0.1 | 1 | |
| Hooded Merganser | 1 | 0.3 | 1 | American Dipper | 50 | 72.4 | 149 | |
| Common Merganser | 7 | 15.0 | 29 | Townsend’s Solitaire | 17 | 18.4 | 41 | |
| Bald Eagle | 17 | 6.1 | 17 | European Starling | 65 | 98.6 | 197 | |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | 0.6 | 1 | Bohemian Waxwing | 1630 | 271.3 | 1630 | |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | 1.0 | 2 | Spotted Towhee | 10 | 17.3 | 27 | |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 3 | 2.0 | 4 | Song Sparrow | 16 | 15.1 | 22 | |
| Golden Eagle | 1 | 1.3 | 3 | White-crowned Sparrow | 4 | 1.4 | 4 | |
| Chukar | 29 | 14.4 | 29 | Dark-eyed Junco | 80 | 87.0 | 193 | |
| American Coot | 4 | 0.6 | 4 | Pine Grosbeak | 48 | 25.4 | 68 | |
| Wilson’s Snipe | CW | 0.3 | 2 | Cassin’s Finch | CW | 3.1 | 14 | |
| Large gull sp. | 3 | 2.6 | 9 | House Finch | 135 | 90.0 | 186 | |
| Rock Pigeon | 41 | 11.6 | 41 | Red Crossbill | 2 | 17.6 | 89 | |
| Mourning Dove | 10 | 2.3 | 10 | Common Redpoll | 115 | 96.6 | 475 | |
| Great Horned Owl | CW | 0.4 | 2 | Pine Siskin | 47 | 48.6 | 150 | |
| Northern Pygmy-Owl | 5 | 3.6 | 7 | American Goldfinch | CW | 3.1 | 7 | |
| Belted Kingfisher | 3 | 2.3 | 4 | Finch sp. | 4 | 0.6 | 4 | |
| Downy Woodpecker | 2 | 5.7 | 11 | House Sparrow | 46 | 18.3 | 49 | |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 5 | 4.4 | 9 | Passerine sp. | 1 | 0.1 | 1 | |
| Northern Flicker | 25 | 12.6 | 25 | |||||
| Pileated Woodpecker | 3 | 1.4 | 3 | Total species | 52 | |||
| Northern Shrike | 3 | 1.1 | 3 | Total individual birds | 3409 | |||
| Steller’s Jay | 15 | 8.0 | 15 | Total field observers | 12 | |||
| Clark’s Nutcracker | 24 | 6.7 | 24 | |||||
| Black-billed Magpie | 19 | 13.7 | 24 | |||||
| American Crow | 257 | 183.4 | 330 | |||||
| Northwestern Crow | 9 | 1.3 | 9 | |||||
| Common Raven | 268 | 130.1 | 268 |
Since the inception of the Lillooet CBC in 2000, 83 species of birds have been observed. In total, 12,571 birds have been counted over the seven year period. The ten most numerous species account for 65% of this total (see table 2). Not surprisingly, Bohemian Waxwings won out with 1899 birds. American Crow was a distant 2nd with 1284.
Many thanks to the following people for heading outside on Boxing Day and counting Lillooet’s birds: Cathy Arthur-Stathers, Vivian Birch-Jones, Baird Corrigan, Kevin Corrigan, Chris Galliazo, Chris Grossler, Maria Mascher, Kim North, Jeff O’Kelly, Karl Ricker, Ian Routley, and Ken Wright. And thanks Ian for another stunning photo of our winter birds!
| Species | Total birds counted |
|---|---|
| Bohemian Waxwing | 1899 |
| American Crow | 1284 |
| Common Raven | 911 |
| Common Redpoll | 676 |
| Mallard | 652 |
| House Finch | 630 |
| Barrow’s Goldeneye | 615 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 609 |
| American Dipper | 507 |
| Bufflehead | 426 |
| Total | 8209 |
Figure 1. Trumpeter Swans – Cinquefoil Lake. Photo by Ian Routley 2006.
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Yalakom Valley Bird Count
January 3rd 2006
4 Mallard
1 Lesser Scaup
6 Barrows Goldeneye
2 Hooded Merganser
2 Bald Eagle
4 Ruffed Grouse
5 Chukar
2 Northern Saw-whet Owl
1 Belted Kingfisher
1 Downey Woodpecker
1 Hairy Woodpecker
1 Northern Flicker
2 Piliated Woodpecker
8 American Dipper
14 Townsend Solitaire
6 American Robin
10 Black Capped Chickadee
17-22 Mountain Chickadee
7-12 Red-brested Nuthatch
1 Brown Creeper
5 Stellar Jay
2 Black-billed Magpie
8 Clark's Nutcracker
40 American Crow
3 Common Raven
8 American Goldfinch
1 Evening Grosbeak
3 Song Sparrow
2 White-crowned Sparrow
4 Dark-eyed Juncos
There were 5 party's that went out, and 4 'feeder' watchers. The temperature hovered just above freezing all day, with some sun in the morning and snowy rain in the afternoon. We covered up to the dam, down to the Horseshoe,and over to Antoine, almost up to Yalakom Ranch, Fred Creek from the R&N's spring down through the Dennises, and Buck Creek.
Thank's to everyone who played. I hope folks will be into it again next year. I'm sorry we didn't get this count officially counted, but we are now already registered for next year. I've been reading the guidlines, and its actually a pretty big deal to do it all properly. I want to get up to it, so stay posted for more info, and maybe even a bird-song study night before winter's through!
I've put up a copy of this at the com-shack. The list is arranged along the lines of the Lillooet bird list the Naturalists put out, for easy reference.