Archive for the ‘Christmas Bird Count’ Category

MATAGORDA COUNTY - MAD ISLAND MARSH CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT

17 December 2007

Our Team of 113 very dedicated birders reported 235 species during the 15^th running of our CBC. This is our 4^th highest tally and is a very good total for this “down year” for total species. Guadalupe River Delta reported 225, Dan Diego, CA, 215 and Freeport 203 species.

BEST BIRD

Our section leaders had a very close vote for the Best Bird. OLIVE SPARROW won by one vote over Green-tailed Towhee. There seemed to be a consensus that they would prefer seeing an Aplomado Falcon next year on the t-shirt. Does anybody have a good photo of an Aplomado with an Olive Sparrow in its talons?

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Guadalupe River Delta/McFaddin Family Ranches CBC 20 December 2007

SPONSORS:

• Lyondell Chemicals
• Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
• Jess Womack Ranch
• LaQuerencia Ranch
• Rio Vista Bluff Ranch

Guadalupe River Delta - McFaddin Family Ranches CBC

20 December 2007

The 4th running of this CBC produced reports of a record 225 species from 59 birders with the Best 3 Birds being Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Bell’s Vireo and Prairie Warbler. The Yellow-billed Cuckoo was heard twice by the Nan Dietert, Diane Nunley and Lydon Holcomb team on Hog Bayou. The Bell’s Vireo was photographed by Brush Freeman and Petra Hockey on River Road, and the Prairie Warbler was photographed by Michael Gray, Cecelia Riley, Steven Bone and David Plunkett.

The 225 species will likely place us in the Top 3 in the Nation which is Great for our count. As we increase participation for this fun CBC and access new lands we should be able to consistently post 230 species results each year and occasionally be the Top CBC in the Country. As an example that our potential has not been reached, we reported 12 new species for the count: Long-tailed Duck (Riley team), Aplomado Falcon (Mitchell team), Greater Roadrunner (Mitchell team), Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Nunley team), Black Phoebe (Ashbaugh team), Great Crested Flycatcher (Farnsworth team), Bell’s Vireo (Hockey team), Chihuahuan Raven (Friedrichs team), Yellow Warbler (Rorex team), Prairie Warbler (Gray team), Summer Tanager (Wauer and Julian teams), and Yellow-headed Blackbird (Freeman team). This brings the total for 4 years of this CBC to 263 species. (more…)

The 107^th CBC edition was recently mailed by National Audubon Society. It includes several very good articles and the normal summaries for each state, and the highest counts of individual species (national highs). Many birders only look at the species tally for each count as a measure of its success. However, as a biologist I am more impressed with the number of high counts of each species a CBC reports as a measure of its value to birds.

I receive the 5 highest tallies of each species from Audubon to write the National High article each year. Texas did well in acquiring national highs; trailing only California in this category. Texas posted 437 records in the top 5 counts of each species with 69 CBCs representing Texas. Mad Island again led the nation with the most species National Highs with 29. It also had 16 2^nd places, 9 3rds, 9 4ths and 7 5^th places. Texas’s 2^nd best CBC forVswas Anzalduas-Bentsen. This CBC produced 9 1^st, 10 2^nd, 7 3^rd, 7 4^th & 2 5^th. Third place went to Santa Ana who posted 10 1^st, 6 2^nd, 7 3^rd, 1 4^th & 1 5^th. Fourth in Texas was Freeport 3 1^st, 5 2^nd, 8 3^rd, 3 4^th & 4 5^th. Tied for 5^th was Guadalupe River Delta and Weslaco with 22 Top 5 Finishes.

There is a definite trend of highest tallies being along the central coast and in the Valley. However, many CBCs scattered across Texas posted at least one Top V finish. Scroll through the list below and see how your count did. Get a copy of the American Birds 107th CBC edition and enjoy the stories. Hope to see you this winter on Texas CBCs.

Brent Ortego

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Christmas Bird Counts are held each year surveying early winter bird populations. Aside from conducting the survey, birders are competitive and proud of their local areas. They strive to report as many species as possible to showcase their count and compete at local, state and national levels for bragging rights. These results are published annually in the American Birds Magazine. A more obscure competition, but more biologically significant, is which geographic areas report the most sindividuals of each species.

Listed below in a somewhat complicated table are the CBCs and States which had the most counts of the highest numbers of individual species.

CBC Number = CBC Season, for ex. 48 = 1947-48 winter; 49 = 1948-49 winter.

The SP column = total species reported during the CBC in the Nation.

The FORMS column = total number of infraspecific forms reported in the Nation that were summarized in results.

The EOTICS column = total number of exotic species reported in the Nation that were summarized in results.

CBC = the CBC with the most reports of the highest counts of individual species.

#1 = total high counts of species by top CBC

State 1st = Number one state and the number of species with high counts

State 2nd = Number two state and the number of species with high counts

CBC National High Summary

Each year Christmas Bird Counts are conducted across the nation with Texas and California typically competing for honors as having the count reporting the most species during one calendar day. This competition had been pretty intense at the national level until recent years when two Texas Counts have dominated the results: Matagorda County - Mad Island Marsh, and Corpus Christi.

The table below shows the top CBCs since the 74th CBC season held during 1973-74 winter.

CBC number = CBC season with 107 being 2006-07, 106 being 2005-06, etc.

Top Count = winning CBC with the first two letters representing state and the last two being the count code; MM = Matagorda County, CC = Corpus Christi, FR = Freeport, SB = Santa Barbara.

Species = total species accepted for that count for that CBC season.

The Matagorda County Mad Island Marsh CBC was started in 1993 by Jim Bergan and Brent Ortego to showcase the birds of the Mad Island Wildlife Management Area managed by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and the Mad Island Marsh Preserve managed by The Nature Conservancy. The CBC has been highly successful by reporting the most species in the nation for 9 of the 14 years it has been conducted and has also listed 327 species between 1993 and 2006 with 250 species reported during 2005.

We have grown from 37 observers meeting in The Nature Conservancy Visitor Center for chilli during the 1993 count-down to having multi-sponsors with a banquet annually at the Wadsworth Community Center with a peak number of observers at 121 in 2002.

The normal formula for a CBC is that success attracts birders and quality birders find rare birds. This has been part of the formula for Mad Island, but there is so much more with this very special CBC.

A Christmas Bird Count survey area is a 15-mile diameter circle which contains 113,040 acres. More species are found by having the most diverse set of habitats within this space that is accessible to birders. Due to a large local support from Matagorda County residents, the CBC has access to most of the important bird habitats which contains 29% range land, 22% ag, 19% bays, 10% marsh, 6% reservoir, 5% prairie, 3% Gulf, 2% forests, 2% beaches & dunes, 1% rivers & canals, and 1% urban.

Nationally significant results has attracted strong local support which in turn has helped access the private lands which make up 65% of the CBC. Local support has also attracted sponsors which allows us to pay for the banquet, the National Audubon Society activity fees, the custom CBC t-shirt and the fuel for 3 commercial fishing guides who give up a day for our survey. We are proud for the assistance provided by our sponsors: Matagorda County Birding & Nature Center, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Center, Wells Fargo Bank, Lyondell Corp., Lower Colorado River Authority, Celanese, Bay City Abstract and Title, City of Bay City, Bay City Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture Convention & Visitor Bureau, All Star Real Estate, Coldwell Banker/Ward Real Estate, and The Nature Conservancy.

We thank the many landowners who manage the land which supports this abundant and diverse avian community in southern Matagorda County and provides the access to our birders. Lastly, we thank the birders who invest their time and energy in making us Number One to all who work with the Matagorda County - Mad Island Marsh CBC.