Christmas Bird Count Species List | December 31, 2016

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Saturday, December 31, 2016

Species Identified				Count Week species:
Canada Goose Gadwall Mallard Green-winged Teal Ring-necked Duck Bufflehead Common goldeneye Red-tailed Hawk Rough-legged Hawk Golden Eagle Wilson’s Snipe Rock Pigeon Eurasian Collared-dove Northern Pygmy Owl Belted Kingfisher Lewis’s Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Steller’s Jay Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay Clark’s Nutcracker		Black-billed Magpie American Crow Common Raven Black-capped Chickadee Mountain Chickadee Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper American Dipper Golden-crowned Kinglet Townsend’s Solitaire American Robin European Starling Spotted Towhee Song Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon, pink-sided, slate) Red-winged Blackbird Rosy Finch House Finch Pine Siskin American Goldfinch House Sparrow		Common Merganser Bald Eagle Sharp-shinned Hawk Gray Jay Cedar Waxwing Gray-crowned Rosy Finch Black Rosy Finch Cassin’s Finch Evening Grosbeak

Comments:

The Aspen Area Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC), held on December 31, 2016, brought together more than thirty people to census the local bird population within our count’s fifteen-mile diameter geographical circle.  Our local crew joined some 60,000 other volunteers who participated in the 117^th Christmas Bird Count, an Audubon citizen science effort that takes place throughout the Americas every year. ACES is dedicated to sponsoring and leading this important event in our community, facilitating local environmental science and connecting people with the natural world.

The Aspen CBC yielded 44 species on count day, with an additional 9 species recorded during the three days preceding and following count day, as ‘count week species.’  Mild weather produced little activity around birdfeeders, one of the key sources for finding birds in our mountain valley in winter; but with the combined skills, local birding and habitat savvy, enthusiasm, and sheer number of observers, our volunteers were able to track down and count an excellent array of local winter birds.  Highlights were a Northern Pygmy Owl at Jaffee Park and two Lewis’s Woodpeckers observed in the Snowmass Creek area.  

Many thanks to all volunteers and supporters, including guest services at Highlands and Snowmass Ski Areas, ACES on-mountain naturalists, Snowmass Ski Patrol, and those who contributed owling data, feeder count data, and count week observations.  The results of the Aspen CBC are available on Audubon’s CBC website by searching with our count’s code, COAS.  Join us the 118^th CBC next year:  date and details will be posted in November.  Birders of all experience levels are welcome and encouraged to participate!

Aspen Area Audubon CBC (COAS) Full data with census numbers is available on Audubon’s CBC website: http://netapp.audubon.org/CBCObservation/CurrentYear/ResultsByCount.aspx – local results