Capital Area Chapter of the Audubon Society of New Hampshire
Christmas Bird Count
What is the Christmas Bird Count (CBC)?
On Christmas Day, 1900, 27 conservationists decided to protest the traditional bird shoot in which teams competed to see who could shoot the most birds and animals in one day. Instead of killing birds, the conservationists counted them. Now, volunteers from all 50 states, every Canadian province, parts of Central and South America, Bermuda, the West Indies and Pacific Islands count and record every individual bird and bird species encountered during one calendar day.
This effort produces some 1700 individual Christmas Bird Counts each year, and the Capital Area Chapter of the Audubon Society of New Hampshire (ASNH) sponsors one of them. Each count group has a designated circle 15 miles in diameter (about 177 square miles) where it tries to cover as much ground as possible within a 24-hour period. The data collected by each group is sent to the National Audubon Society (not affiliated with ASNH) which publishes it in one of their magazines.
Our Chapter's participation began in 1952, when Tudor Richards organized Concord's first CBC. After an 11-year lapse, the next count took place in 1964 and there has been one every year since. Thus, the 2002 CBC was our 40th. Bob Quinn leads the effort now, as he has for many years, and he believes that Tudor Richards is the only person who has participated in every Concord CBC since the beginning. The actual count is not necessarily on Christmas Day, but usually within a week or so of it.
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The Chapter's latest count - 2002
The Chapter's Christmas Bird Count for 2002 (our 40th!) was held on December 17th. Results of the Count will be posted here in late February. Be sure to check back! In the meantime, the table below provides a review of the Chapter's figures for 1995-1998 and the all-time high.
Christmas Bird Count - Concord Area Species 1998 1997 1996 1995 High - Year Common Loon 0 0 0 0 1 - 1991 Pied-billed Grebe 0 0 0 0 2 - 1985 Great Cormorant 0 0 0 0 1 - 1992 Great Blue Heron 1 2 0 1 2 - 1994 Snow Goose 0 0 1 0 1 - 1996 Canada Goose 700 2 100 1 700 - 1998 Wood Duck 0 0 0 0 1 - 1989 Green-winged Teal 2 0 0 0 2 - 1998 American Black Duck 100 61 36 6 100 - 1998 Mallard 333 154 301 241 523 - 1993 Ring-necked Duck 39 0 1 0 39 - 1988 Lesser Scaup 0 0 0 0 3 - 1983 Oldsquaw 0 0 0 0 1 - 1973 Common Goldeneye 49 16 35 9 101 - 1987 Barrow's Goldeneye 0 0 0 0 1 - 1986 Hooded Merganser 60 5 15 0 60 - 1998 Common Merganser 46 15 41 9 48 - 1992 teal species 0 0 0 0 1 - 1993 scaup species 0 0 0 0 1 - 1974 Bald Eagle 3 2 0 0 3 - 1998 Sharp-shinned Hawk 4 2 0 0 4 - 1998 Cooper's Hawk 2 0 1 0 2 - 1998 Northern Goshawk 0 1 0 0 1 - 1997 Red-tailed Hawk 17 7 9 7 17 - 1998 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 0 2 - 1989 American Kestrel 1 0 0 1 4 - 1979 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0 0 1 - 1991 accipter species 0 0 0 1 1 - 1995 Ring-necked Pheasant 1 0 0 0 11 - 1968 Ruffed Grouse 2 4 5 0 13 - 1991 Wild Turkey 6 0 8 9 9 - 1995 Northern Bobwhite 0 0 0 0 1 - 1992 Killdeer 0 0 0 0 1 - 1994 Common Snipe 0 0 0 0 1 - 1970 Ring-billed Gull 90 14 182 2 182 - 1996 Herring Gull 52 9 10 4 2500 - 1984 Iceland Gull 0 0 1 0 3 - 1988 Glaucous Gull 0 0 0 0 4 - 1998 Great Black-backed Gull 5 25 6 4 600 - 1987 Rock Dove 683 361 333 472 719 - 1994 Mourning Dove 428 104 151 318 503 - 1975 Great Horned Owl 0 0 0 0 2 - 1993 Snowy Owl 0 0 0 0 1 - 1994 Barred Owl 0 0 0 0 1 - 1993 Belted Kingfisher 5 0 0 0 5 - 1998 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 0 1 1 1 - 1998 Downy Woodpecker 68 45 41 37 74 - 1972 Hairy Woodpecker 28 18 22 19 46 - 1972 Northern Flicker 0 0 0 0 2 - 1992 Pileated Woodpecker 3 1 1 2 6 - 1993 Horned Lark 0 5 23 11 207 - 1994 Gray Jay 0 0 0 0 2 - 1972 Blue Jay 319 179 199 270 1105 - 1970 American Crow 460 381 308 161 608 - 1994 Common Raven 6 7 2 2 14 - 1991 Black-capped Chickadee 658 501 290 363 784 - 1988 Boreal Chickadee 0 0 0 0 2 - 1969 Tufted Titmouse 137 85 47 50 137 - 1998 Red-breasted-Nuthatch 20 5 5 15 95 - 1993 White-breasted Nuthatch 95 64 38 38 95 - 1998 Brown Creeper 23 2 7 2 23 - 1998 Carolina Wren 2 0 0 0 2 - 1998 Winter Wren 3 0 3 0 3 - 1998 Golden-crowned Kinglet 53 2 14 0 53 - 1998 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2 1 0 0 2 - 1998 Eastern Bluebird 1 0 0 0 10 - 1994 Hermit Thrush 1 0 0 0 2 - 1971 American Robin 12 6 10 2 21 - 1993 Varied Thrush 0 0 0 0 1 - 1977 Northern Mockingbird 20 8 7 7 20 - 1998 Brown Thrasher 0 0 0 0 1 - 1974 Bohemian Waxwing 0 0 0 19 19 - 1995 Cedar Waxwing 65 282 50 38 282 - 1997 Northern Shrike 0 0 0 1 2 - 1970 European Starling 1008 498 387 247 1557 - 1983 Common Yellowthroat 0 0 0 0 1 - 1983 Northern Cardinal 40 28 22 48 48 - 1995 Dickcissel 0 0 0 0 2 - 1975 Eastern Towhee 0 0 0 0 2 - 1966 AmericanTree Sparrow 480 49 76 80 480 - 1998 Chipping Sparrow 2 0 2 0 5 - 1994 Field Sparrow 0 0 0 1 2 - 1983 Lark Sparrow 0 0 0 0 1 - 1969 Fox Sparrow 0 0 0 0 2 - 1969 Song Sparrow 41 13 7 4 41 - 1998 Lincoln's Sparrow 0 1 0 0 1 - 1997 Swamp Sparrow 0 0 0 0 1 - 1994 White-throated Sparrow 2 4 4 0 69 - 1976 White-crowned Sparrow 0 0 0 0 1 - 1991 Dark-eyed Junco 330 36 102 18 449 - 1984 Snow Bunting 30 0 27 1 200 - 1964 Red-winged Blackbird 0 0 0 0 3 - 1969 Eastern Meadowlark 0 0 0 0 1 - 1981 Rusty Blackbird 1 0 0 0 1 - 1998 Common Grackle 0 0 0 0 13 - 1976 Brown-headed Cowbird 0 0 0 0 369 - 1969 Baltimore Oriole 0 0 0 0 1 - 1992 Bullock's Oriole 0 0 0 0 1 - 1975 Pine Grosbeak 0 2 0 30 82 - 1977 Purple Finch 2 2 0 0 86 - 1982 House Finch 204 85 73 188 336 - 1992 Red Crossbill 0 0 0 0 15 - 1995 White-winged Crossbill 0 2 0 0 4 - 1981 Common Redpoll 0 131 0 65 429 - 1993 Hoary Redpoll 0 0 0 0 2 - 1969 American Goldfinch 154 131 226 108 410 - 1994 Pine Siskin 0 0 0 0 219 - 1977 Evening Grosbeak 0 18 0 16 899 - 1977 House Sparrow 195 151 59 310 1167 - 1968 Brazilian Cardinal 0 0 0 0 1 - 1984 Total species 57 49 47 46 57 - 1998 Nation-wide CBC data:
See BirdSource for Christmas Bird Count data for the United States and Canada, from 1900 to date.Return to the TOP of this page
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