More than 61 birdwatchers turned out the morning of Dec. 27 as part of the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count who spotted a Bald Eagle, burrowing owls and a Vermillion Flycatcher.

Over the course of the day, the birding teams cumulatively put in more than 110 hours, traveled more than 230 miles in cars, 70 miles on foot, and saw 144 different bird species, setting a new record for the count.

In 2023, there were 135 species were seen, compared to 139 in 2022.

According to Bruce Christensen, a local birder and member of the Cache Creek Nature Preserve board of directors, the people were divided in small teams gathered in blustery and chilly weather in the Woodland and Davis areas looking and listening and tallying any and all birds they could see or hear.

“As the day progressed the wind abated and the birders were left with a pleasant NorCal winter day,” Christensen stated.

Some highlights:

The highest count this year was European Starlings. There were estimated to be over 20,000 starlings this year, compared with between 2000 and 3000 the past couple of years.

The past two years’ counts were dominated by Snow Geese, with around 12,000 each year, but only 363 this year. Greater White-fronted Geese were also down quite a bit this year at 850 compared to 4,674 last year. Ducks were relatively steady, though, with a couple of exceptions. These fluctuations are likely due to where current wetland and feeding fields are located.

Our rarest birds were an immature male Vermillion Flycatcher at the golf course entrance pond in Wild Wings, and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker along Putah Creek. Both birds are very rarely seen in the Central Valley.

New birds for the count this year included a Bald Eagle, American Bittern, Western Screech-Owl, Prairie Falcon, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Tricolored Blackbird.

Other unexpected birds reported include a Barn Swallow, a lingering Swainson’s Hawk, a Brant goose, and the Costa’s Hummingbird (the latter two seen only during count week).

Promising news is that six Burrowing Owls were seen this year, up from one last year. There were also 118 American Kestrels (up from 91 and 92 the previous two years). Both species are of special conservation concern in Yolo County. Conservation efforts to support both of these species include creating artificial nesting areas: wooden boxes on high poles for the kestrels and artificial underground burrows for the owls.

Concerning news is the drop in California Scrub-jays, American Crows, and Common Ravens an endemic Yellow-billed Magpie was at only 128 this year compared to 304 in 2023 and 160 in 2022. Possible causes may include West Nile Virus, which is deadly for members of the crow family. The Yellow-billed Magpie is endemic to the California Central Valley, meaning it lives nowhere else on the planet.“The tradition of the Christmas Bird Count started in 1900 when Frank Chapman and 26 other conservationists started counting all the bird species they could see on Christmas day,” according to Christensen. “Prior to this, a similar bird count was held on Christmas using shotguns to tally species. Chapman and his band took a less invasive approach and holstered their binoculars instead of guns.

“The tradition has continued every year since and has grown to thousands of counts conducted annually across the continent, and the world,” Christensen reported. “The effort generates invaluable data on early winter bird populations. Over 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers have been published using CBC data.”

The Woodland/Davis CBC is young, in its third year in 2024, but has grown in popularity and effort each successive year. It is sponsored by the Cache Creek Conservancy and details about past and future counts can be found on their website, including a complete list of birds seen each year.

“Three years is not enough time to make any meaningful comments on trends in our area, but every year is one more excellent dataset that will eventually help us to understand our environment better,” Christensen stated.