8th Annual Lillooet Christmas Bird Count
December 29 2007
by Ken Wright (compiler)
2007 marks the 8th annual Lillooet CBC. The day started rather dramatically when the compiler flew down the icy bank of Cayoosh Creek and ironically almost became one of the very dippers he was looking for. He will definitely be bringing crampons next year! Like other years, participants experienced the lulls and highs that seem to characterize every Christmas Bird Count. When Peter, Eleanor and I began the count things were very slow indeed--it took us over an hour to find our first forest birds (Black-capped Chickadees). Fortunately, things picked up as they always do. Our pygmy-owl whistling efforts paid off and we attracted a nice mixed-species flock containing, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Black-capped and Mountain Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches and a male Hairy Woodpecker that followed us for nearly a kilometer before it realized it had better things to do than chase bird-seeking monkeys. Four new species were added to the CBC list this year: a female Black-backed Woodpecker in the ponderosa pine forests surrounding the airport; a large flock of Red-winged Blackbirds at a feeder on Pine Ridge Road; a female Varied Thrush at Seton Lake; and a flock of 14 White-winged Crossbills in the Fountain Valley. There were numerous other highlights including our second Horned Grebe (Seton Lake) and our highest count of Chukars (40). Ian Routley and Doug Grossler found a Northern Saw-whet Owl perched in a saskatoon just north of Gibbs Creek. They both took stunning photographs of this spectacular bird. Fourty-one Spotted Towhees were tallied, our highest count yet. Peter McAllister, Kim North and Chris Galliazo flushed a Wilson's Snipe at Jones Pond (our second CBC record). Owing to ideal weather conditions and our record-breaking participation since the count began (25 people), we managed to find 58 species on count day, two species higher than our previous best total! So well done everyone. Count week proved to be equally productive. Seven species were added to the roster: Northern Harrier seen at the Old Bridge on Boxing Day, a Ruffed Grouse on Texas Creek Road (Jan 1), Rock Pigeons seen at the New Bridge, a female Mountain Bluebird at Fountain Flats (Dec 31), White-throated and White-crowned sparrows seen at a feeder in Lillooet (Dec 28), and a House Sparrow also seen at a Lillooet feeder (Dec 30). This brings our count week total to 65 species.
I'd like to extend a big word of thanks to everyone that participated in this year's count: Cathy Arthur Stathers, Vivian Birch-Jones, Scott Bodaly, Judy Bodaly, Peter Fraser, Chris Galliazo, Doug Grossler, Stephen Johnson, Peter McAllister, Clarence McIvor, Jan McIvor, Maria Mascher, Kim North, Ken Oakes, M.J. Oakes, Jeff O'Kelly, Pam Paradis, Tim Paradis, Bev Rennie, Ian Routley, Greg Smith, Lori Smith, Ursula Stephane, Eleanor Wright, Ken Wright. This summary along with some photos will be posted on the Lillooet Naturalist Society website; go to www.lillooetnaturalistsociety.org. Be sure to pencil in December 28, 2008 for what is sure to be another memorable Lillooet CBC!
| Species | Number or cw |
Flags | Max Number |
Number of counts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada Goose | 77 | HC, | 43 in 105 | 6 |
| Trumpeter Swan | 2 | 7 in 107 | 2 | |
| American Wigeon | 1 | 4 in 103 | 3 | |
| Mallard | 72 | 308 in 103 | 7 | |
| American Green-winged Teal | 1 | 4 in 105 | 6 | |
| Bufflehead | 74 | 115 in 103 | 7 | |
| Common Goldeneye | 11 | 14 in 103 | 7 | |
| Barrow's Goldeneye | 88 | 182 in 103 | 7 | |
| Hooded Merganser | 3 | 1 in 107 | 2 | |
| Common Merganser | 20 | 29 in 102 | 7 | |
| Chukar | 40 | HC, | 29 in 107 | 6 |
| Ruffed Grouse | cw | 10 in 105 | 4 | |
| Horned Grebe | 1 | 1 in 107 | 1 | |
| Great Blue Heron (Blue form) | 5 | 6 in 107 | 7 | |
| Bald Eagle | 10 | 17 in 107 | 6 | |
| Adults: 2 | Immatures: 8 | Unknowns: ☐ | ||
| Northern Harrier | cw | 2 in 103 | 1 | |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | 1 in 102 | 5 | |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 4 in 103 | 7 | |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 2 | 3 in 102 | 2 | |
| Golden Eagle | 2 | 3 in 102 | 6 | |
| Adults: ☐ | Immatures: ☐ | Unknowns: 2 | ||
| Merlin | 1 | 2 in 103 | 3 | |
| Wilson's Snipe | 1 | 2 in 106 | 2 | |
| Glaucous-winged Gull | 2 | 28 in 102 | 5 | |
| large gull sp. | 2 | 9 in 102 | 4 | |
| Rock Pigeon | cw | 41 in 107 | 4 | |
| Mourning Dove | 15 | 10 in 107 | 5 | |
| Northern Pygmy-Owl | 3 | 7 in 104 | 7 | |
| Northern Saw-whet Owl | 1 | 2 in 102 | 3 | |
| Belted Kingfisher | 2 | 4 in 106 | 7 | |
| Downy Woodpecker | 5 | 11 in 104 | 7 | |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 11 | 9 in 101 | 7 | |
| Black-backed Woodpecker | 1 | in | ||
| Northern (Red-shafted) Flicker | 12 | 25 in 107 | 7 | |
| Pileated Woodpecker | 1 | 3 in 107 | 7 | |
| Northern Shrike | 2 | 3 in 104 | 7 | |
| Steller's Jay | 5 | 15 in 107 | 7 | |
| Clark's Nutcracker | 8 | 24 in 107 | 6 | |
| Black-billed Magpie | 19 | 24 in 106 | 7 | |
| American Crow | 234 | 330 in 103 | 7 | |
| Common Raven | 289 | HC, | 268 in 107 | 7 |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 53 | 61 in 105 | 7 | |
| Mountain Chickadee | 52 | 50 in 104 | 7 | |
| chickadee sp. | 6 | 6 in 107 | 4 | |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch | 63 | 101 in 104 | 7 | |
| Pygmy Nuthatch | 10 | 23 in 102 | 7 | |
| Brown Creeper | 2 | 2 in 102 | 4 | |
| American Dipper | 45 | 149 in 103 | 7 | |
| Golden-crowned Kinglet | 12 | 25 in 104 | 5 | |
| Mountain Bluebird | cw | 0 in 105 | 1 | |
| Townsend's Solitaire | 25 | 41 in 103 | 6 | |
| American Robin | 4 | 141 in 102 | 6 | |
| Varied Thrush | 1 | in | ||
| European Starling | 36 | 197 in 101 | 6 | |
| Bohemian Waxwing | 315 | 80 in 102 | 5 | |
| Spotted Towhee | 41 | HC, | 27 in 104 | 6 |
| Song Sparrow | 8 | 22 in 103 | 7 | |
| White-throated Sparrow | cw | in | ||
| White-crowned Sparrow | cw | 4 in 106 | 4 | |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 91 | in | ||
| Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco | 9 | 190 in 104 | 7 | |
| Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco | 1 | 6 in 106 | 5 | |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 31 | in | ||
| Purple Finch | 1 | 5 in 105 | 3 | |
| House Finch | 139 | 186 in 106 | 6 | |
| Red Crossbill | 11 | 89 in 102 | 6 | |
| White-winged Crossbill | 14 | in | ||
| Pine Siskin | 37 | 150 in 105 | 5 | |
| American Goldfinch | 34 | 7 in 104 | 6 | |
| House Sparrow | cw | 49 in 106 | 5 | |
| TOTAL INDIVIDUALS COUNTED | 2066 | |||
| TOTAL SPECIES REPORTED | 58 |