Eighty birdwatchers, plus 5 feeder watchers spent a cloudy day counting birds in western Skagit County for the National Audubon Society’s 120th annual Christmas Bird Count. We tallied all-time high counts for this count circle for 7 species, including Canada Goose, Hooded Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Bald Eagle, Black Oystercatcher, Eurasian Collared-Dove, and Anna’s Hummingbird. Total count for individuals was about average for our count circle. Total number of species was slightly below the mean of 123 species. A big thank you to Tim Manns, count coordinator; Bob Kountz, count compiler; Denny Quirk and Alice Turner for their help to organize the 2019 count. Count results are below:
Red-throated Loon 782
Pacific Loon 36
Common Loon 66
Pied-billed Grebe 26
Horned Grebe 84
Red-necked Grebe 32
Western Grebe 24
Double-crested Cormorant 493
Brandt's Cormorant 164
Pelagic Cormorant 148
cormorant (sp.) 20
Great Blue Heron 255
Tundra Swan 9
Trumpeter Swan 1083
swan (sp.) 830
Snow Goose 3556
Brant 1406
Cackling Goose 58
Canada Goose 674
Am. Green-winged Teal 1892
Mallard 13453
Northern Pintail 4933
Northern Shoveler 7
Gadwall 58
Eurasian Wigeon 62
American Wigeon 18289
Am. X Eur. Wigeon-hybrid 2
Canvasback 2
Ring-necked Duck 50
Greater Scaup 1007
Lesser Scaup 58
scaup (sp.) 307
Harlequin Duck 5
Long-tailed Duck 29
Surf Scoter 258
White-winged Scoter 184
Common Goldeneye 317
Barrow's Goldeneye 11
Com. X Bar. Goldeneye-hybrid 1
Bufflehead 1259
Hooded Merganser 259
Common Merganser 295
Red-breasted Merganser 725
Ruddy Duck 13
duck (sp.) 3611
Bald Eagle 402
Northern Harrier 34
Sharp-shinned Hawk 3
Cooper's Hawk 17
accipiter (sp.) 4
Red-tailed Hawk 125
Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk 2
Rough-legged Hawk 10
American Kestrel 12
Merlin 10
Peregrine Falcon 7
Gyrfalcon 1
Ring-necked Pheasant 1
California Quail 48
Virginia Rail 3
Killdeer 11
Black Oystercatcher 171
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Spotted Sandpiper 2
Black Turnstone 5
Least Sandpiper 9
Dunlin 279
Wilson’s Snipe 1
Mew Gull 953
Ring-billed Gull 15
Western Gull 3
Thayer’s Gull 4
W. x Glaucous-w. Gull-hyb. 240
Glaucous-winged Gull 710
gull (sp.) 1131
Common Murre 63
Pigeon Guillemot 90
Marbled Murrelet 24
Rock Pigeon 587
Eurasian Collared Dove 238
Mourning Dove 81
Barn Owl 6
Great Horned Owl 14
Barred Owl 4
Short-eared Owl 1
Northern Saw-whet Owl 2
Anna’s Hummingbird 177
Belted Kingfisher 39
Red-breasted Sapsucker 3
Downy Woodpecker 34
Hairy Woodpecker 22
Northern Flicker 103
N. Red-shafted Flicker 47
N. R-sh. X Y-sh. Flicker-hyb. 3
Pileated Woodpecker 10
Northern Shrike 4
Steller's Jay 36
American / NW Crow 369
Common Raven 186
Black-capped Chickadee 269
Chestnut-back. Chickadee 461
Bushtit 158
Red-breasted Nuthatch 86
Brown Creeper 54
Bewick's Wren 57
Pacific Wren 189
Marsh Wren 4
Golden-crowned Kinglet 526
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 98
Hermit Thrush 4
American Robin 273
Varied Thrush 67
European Starling 6556
Hutton's Vireo 4
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Spotted Towhee 382
Savannah Sparrow 4
Fox Sparrow 132
Song Sparrow 601
Lincoln’s Sparrow 9
Golden-crowned Sparrow 414
White-crowned Sparrow 244
sparrow (sp.) 7
Dark-eyed Oregon Junco 1694
Dark-eyed Slate-colored Junco 1
Red-winged Blackbird 1819
Western Meadowlark 27
Brewer's Blackbird 560
blackbird (sp.) 12
Brown-headed Cowbird 75
Purple Finch 29
House Finch 650
finch (sp.) 32
Red Crossbill 13
Pine Siskin 1684
American Goldfinch 45
House Sparrow 432
Total # of Species 121
Total # of Individuals 80747