Great Backyard Bird Count–The Aftermath

The Great Backyard Bird Count has closed to new checklists, so their data should be close to final. I don’t know the behind-the-scenes work that is done, so I can’t rule out a few additional checklists that have not yet been counted (mailed) or adjustments made to what they believe are reporting errors. Even so, I’m going to go ahead and post based on the 103,960 checklists currently included in the count.

The reason that I participated in the bird count is primarily due to the fact that I already record what I see. Since the only difference was that I had to start counting, the nature of this event was so much easier for me to become involved than a majority of those who participated.

I didn’t expect to have much of an impact. What is one person, even with four checklists, compared to the rest of the participants. In the end, I was actually surprised at how much of an impact I really had.

Before I continue, let me point out the obvious. The count is not designed as a competition to see who can claim to see the most. I spent hours at a time and posted four checklists. My numbers should be higher than average, and they reflect the data that I could provide rather than flawless numbers of how great the birding in my part of the country can be.

In the table below, I have included the number of birds of each species that I reported, the total reported for University Place (although my walks reached Steilacoom), the total reported in Washington, where University Place ranks for the species of bird (this list includes localities from the US and Canada and only shows the top 100), the total reported in the US and Canada, the percentage of the count reported in Washington that I was personally responsible for, and the percentage of the total count that I was responsible for.

I also added some color coding. Red is the best that I did in a number of categories, while yellow represents my top five. These highlights include the top ranks for University Place that I contributed to, the least frequent (rarest) of the sightings that I managed to be involved with, and the highest percentages of my involvement on both a state and an international level.

Species	Number of Birds	UP	WA	UP Rank	Total	% of WA	% of List
Brandt's Cormorant	386	386	607	1	1529	63.59%	25.2453%
Western Meadowlark	16	16	62	95	6251	25.81%	0.2560%
Wilson's Snipe	1	1	6	>100	1191	16.67%	0.0840%
Red-necked Grebe	16	16	139	6	394	11.51%	4.0609%
Pigeon Guillemot	23	23	212	5	313	10.85%	7.3482%
European Starling	549	553	13528	>100	513382	4.06%	0.1069%
Great Blue Heron	27	27	736	88	14923	3.67%	0.1809%
Red-breasted Merganser	15	17	584	>100	14766	2.57%	0.1016%
Horned Grebe	14	19	597	40	3118	2.35%	0.4490%
Belted Kingfisher	3	6	134	93	3762	2.24%	0.0797%
Pied-billed Grebe	4	5	193	>100	8410	2.07%	0.0476%
Rock Pigeon	50	67	2477	>100	120921	2.02%	0.0413%
Killdeer	4	6	222	>100	10863	1.80%	0.0368%
Hooded Merganser	5	5	375	>100	13079	1.33%	0.0382%
Common Goldeneye	22	37	1808	>100	42564	1.22%	0.0517%
Double-crested Cormorant	18	19	1737	>100	65760	1.04%	0.0274%
Green-winged Teal	12	12	1171	>100	21266	1.02%	0.0564%
American Wigeon	118	132	12304	89	54868	0.96%	0.2151%
Bald Eagle	10	12	1110	>100	15083	0.90%	0.0663%
Surf Scoter	25	25	3750	62	9402	0.67%	0.2659%
Ring-necked Duck	4	6	711	>100	36486	0.56%	0.0110%
Common Merganser	6	8	1083	>100	43516	0.55%	0.0138%
Bufflehead	19	33	3576	>100	34806	0.53%	0.0546%
Band-tailed Pigeon	2	2	393	>100	4751	0.51%	0.0421%
American Kestrel	1	1	220	>100	5296	0.45%	0.0189%
Mallard	64	70	15364	>100	311938	0.42%	0.0205%
Canada Goose	69	76	17232	>100	932013	0.40%	0.0074%
Anna's Hummingbird	4	14	1537	>100	11564	0.26%	0.0346%
Song Sparrow	4	8	2316	>100	37466	0.17%	0.0107%
Northern Shoveler	3	3	2001	>100	66926	0.15%	0.0045%
American Coot	16	22	11204	>100	308310	0.14%	0.0052%
Dark-eyed Junco	23	103	17789	>100	283750	0.13%	0.0081%
House Finch	7	27	6415	>100	191465	0.11%	0.0037%
Red-winged Blackbird	5	5	4842	>100	1719373	0.10%	0.0003%
Black-capped Chickadee	6	29	6347	>100	145035	0.09%	0.0041%
Bushtit	4	14	4393	>100	21224	0.09%	0.0188%
Steller's Jay	2	11	2500	>100	9528	0.08%	0.021%
Spotted Towhee	2	10	2616	>100	10316	0.08%	0.0194%
Pine Siskin	8	30	13305	>100	102025	0.06%	0.0078%
American Robin	13	25	41672	>100	345211	0.03%	0.0038%
American/Northwestern Crow	359	I have found multiple sources indicating that we have Northwestern Crow, American Crows, and hybrids. Our two species are difficult to tell apart, so I listed all sightings as American/Northwestern Crows
gull sp.	131	Most gull sightings were too distant to properly identify. There were definitely some Glaucous-winged Gulls (or hybrids), but I believe that most were actually Mew Gulls.
Cackling/Canada Goose	73	From a picture, I counted 71 geese. Their necks looked short, which could have indicated Cackling Geese, but the picture wasn’t good enough for proper identification. There were two geese on the beach that were definitely Canada Geese which were added to the count. Since you are only supposed to count birds that you are confident are different, I excluded 20+ Canada Geese from that particular checklist.
Greater/Lesser Scaup	27	These birds are very similar in appearance. The Scaup that I had encountered were on Chambers Creek rather than the Puget Sound, so they were more likely to be Lesser Scaup.

Notes:

Overall bird sightings were less than spectacular for those four days. There were some noteworthy sightings, but there were also a lot of low numbers and missing species during the count. In a post-count trip, I saw three species of woodpeckers in one day. Those were among the birds that eluded me during the four-day period.

Pine Siskins were probably low due to the difficulty in actually spotting them in the trees. I’m sure that I heard more than I saw.

Song Sparrows are likely low due to the difficulty in knowing if I had seen them before.

Band-tailed Pigeons are not among my most frequent sightings at Chambers Creek Properties.

Bufflehead counts were lower than actually seen due to the difficulty in keeping track of which one were seen. Their favorite spots include other birds, which keep my eyes moving from one location to the other while I’m walking. When I see one emerge after diving, I rarely know if it had already been counted.

We did surprisingly well in Surf Scoters in comparison with others, especially since I didn’t see as many as I had been seeing.

Common Goldeneyes and Horned Grebes had similar problems to the Buffleheads. Even so, we ranked pretty high on the list of Horned Grebes. This could be due to a more limited habitat since I had counted fewer.

Red-breasted Mergansers are usually more common than were seen.

15 Great Blue Herons were spotted at one time. I have already uploaded a picture of 12 of them to Flickr. 3 were in other trees nearby, but a picture with all of them would have felt a little emptier due to the distance between the 12 and the other 3.

European Starling counts are low. I tried to get a picture of them to count, but failed to get all of them in the shots.

Pigeon Guillemots ranked as the least common bird that I encountered. Even though they only appeared on three of my checklists, I still reported a fairly high percentage of the birds reported. I had 17 of the 23 in my best day. My checklists alone put University Place in 5th place for Pigeon Guillemots reported.

Red-necked Grebes can be difficult to count. They tend to be somewhat distant from the shore (but usually close enough to identify), are usually seen one at a time (I believe I had a moment with four or five), and like to dive before you can get a good look at them. Like Pigeon Guillemots, I wound up with a good percentage. My checklists were enough for sixth. Also like the Guillemots, I was the only person to report them in University Place.

The Wilson’s Snipe was probably my most noteworthy sighting. It might not have given me some of the numbers that I got from other birds, but I rarely see them. In fact, this was the only Snipe that I have properly identified at Chambers Creek Properties (although I have suspected them before). I was one of only four people to report a sighting in the state of Washington, and this was one of six total counted in the state (two checklists had two counted each). This was also the most difficult bird for me to identify (that I succeeded with) because it flew from behind some cattails to behind a clump of grass. I couldn’t see it in the viewfinder of my camera, but shot the approximate area in which it seemed likely to land. After returning home, I found enough of the bill and back to add it to my checklist.

Somehow, I had a quarter of Washington’s Meadowlark sightings. 13 of the 16 spotted were in one day. I can’t always count them since they fly, then hide in the grass. My sister helped me a lot with the count on this one.

Brandt’s Cormorants were the most shocking for me. I was personally responsible for over a quarter counted overall. Despite being the only person in University Place to report this bird, University Place ended up with the #1 ranking in the count. Perhaps if that Calivermin below University Place would have submitted two checklists to compete with my four, I wouldn’t be able to say this. Regardless, it’s pretty clear that my count had an impact. Feel free to visit my Flickr account to see this bird that would make University Place famous if the 2012 count for this specific species of West Coast bird actually meant something to the mainstream.

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One last thing. It actually appears as though an individual can provide some meaningful data for this checklist. This isn’t me that we are talking about. This could be you. Next year’s count takes place February 15-18. Mark it on your calendar. It’s already on mine.