Christmas Bird Count 2022

The 52st annual Putah Creek CBC is scheduled for Sunday, December 18th, regardless of weather.

• THE 2022 PUTAH CREEK CBC IS NOW CLOSED TO NEW VOLUNTEERS. 
• Our annual pre-count and Bird ID workshop was held Dec 14th (watch the presentation here). The workshop consists of a primer on bird identification and a discussion of recent count trends, including a review of climate change and forest fire impacts on the count circle.
• Also join us Sunday, December 18th for the Count Compilation at the Davis Senior Center, Valente Room, 646 A Street. Doors open at 5pm, potluck at 6pm and compilation meeting from 7pm – 8:30pm.

The 15-mile diameter count circle is centered southwest of Winters, California. It is divided into 10 areas and spans parts of Yolo, Solano, and Napa Counties. This interactive map shows the areas we cover and associated birding hotspots.

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Putah Creek CBC Area Leaders

Sunday, December 18th, 2022

Organizer and Compiler	Bart Wickel Email Bart
Pre-CBC Bird ID Workshop	Zane Pickus Email Zane
Area 1: Lake Berryessa, Thompson Canyon, & Quail Ridge	Area Leader: Bobby Walsh Email Bobby
Area 2: Bray Canyon	Area Leader: Ian Taylor Email Ian
Area 3: North Side (Chickahominy Slough)	Area Leader: Ryan Janke Email Ryan
Area 4: Winters to Monticello Dam	Area Leader: Michael Perrone Email Michael
Area 5: East Side (Putah Creek & Hwy 505)	Area Leader: Kevin Guse Email Kevin
Area 6: English Hills North	Area Leader: Zane Pickus Email Zane
Area 7: English Hills South	Area Leader: Cameron Tescher Email Cameron
Area 8: Mt. Vaca (Mix & Gates Canyons)	Area Leader: Sean Smith Email Sean
Area 9: Solano Park	Area Leader: Chris Dunford Email Chris
Area 10: Wragg & Cold Canyon	Area Leader: Jasen Liu Email Jasen

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Background

Yolo Audubon Society’s Putah Creek Christmas Bird Count dates from 1971 and is one of California’s longest-running CBCs. In our 51 consecutive years of solid data collection, we have been able to identify trends for several species and to relate them to conservation issues.

• We typically have about 80 participants, making it one of the largest inland counts in California and the Central Valley.
• We typically see over 140 species.
• We have led the nation in Northern Pygmy-Owl, Northern (Red-shafted) Flicker, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Yellow-billed Magpie, Oak Titmouse, American Robin, Lark Sparrow, and Lesser Goldfinch counts. 
• We have provided important data on the effects of West Nile Virus on some species (especially Yellow-billed Magpie).
• We have generated data useful for illustrating impacts of climate change and loss of grasslands.

In 2020 during the “LNU” fire, approximately 60% of the count circle burned, including all (or nearly all) of Areas 1, 2, 8, 9, and 10, and large sections of Areas 3, 4, 6, and 7. In addition, the Central Valley has been experiencing severe drought conditions, with the period from 2020 to 2022 being the driest on record since 1896. While the counts in 2020 and 2021 revealed dramatic impacts on the bird populations, we anticipate witnessing signs of recovery in 2022.

If you are interested in the history of Christmas Bird Counts, this page on the Audubon website is helpful. Summary: instead of killing as many birds as possible during the holiday season, we now count as many as we can.

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2021 Putah Creek CBC Summary

By Bart Wickel

The 51st Putah Creek Christmas Bird Count was held on December 19, 2021. Area leaders sought to cover all usual routes with teams of experienced birders accompanied by new or less experienced birders. While the count was open to the public we adhered to a modified protocol due to covid recommendations, which resulted in lower participation than in pre-covid years with 73 participants compared to the usual average of 85. 

The count was successful in covering all the usual routes with a combined 187 party hours during which we collectively traveled 110 miles on foot and 209 miles by car. Conditions were colder than usual and foggy, especially in the early hours of the day.

A new eBird feature that was introduced this year was the trip-report function. This allows the creation of a summary of all lists for a particular day, which turned out to be particularly helpful for a Christmas Bird Count. While not all of the observations this year were covered, we managed to get close to the count totals for most species. The day report can be found at: https://ebird.org/tripreport/26130

During this year’s count we observed unusually high numbers of waterfowl and gulls, likely due to these foggy conditions. In contrast to previous years, owl-counts were low. 

Among waterfowl, record high-counts were observed for: Snow Goose (826), Greater White-fronted Goose (693), Green-winged Teal (449), Common Merganser (357), Lesser Scaup (25), and a first observation of a mute Swan on Putah Creek. 

Among gulls we observed record high counts for: California Gull (316), Herring Gull (54) as well as a first observation of two Glaucous-winged Gulls in two distinct locations. 

Multi-year trends of increasing numbers of insectivores and fructivores, correlated with warmer winters and a lack of overnight freezes, seem to persist with continued high counts for Western Bluebird, Anna’s Hummingbird, White-breasted Nuthatch, Sora and Virginia Rail. A record number of Common Raven (679) was also observed. 

The impacts of the LNU Lightning Complex megafire in August 2020, which burned approximately 60% of the count circle, are clearly marked by sustained low numbers of American Robin, Wild Turkey, Wrentits, Canyon Wrens and an all-out absence of Pileated Woodpeckers. 

Thanks to all the area leaders for assembling thorough coverage under pandemic conditions. We hope next year we can invite all birders and birders-to-be and finish the day with the traditional potluck