Concord Christmas Bird Count

CBCers —

The Christmas Bird Count edition of American Birds is no longer available in paper copy. To receive information regarding the free digital edition, as well as CBC results, reports, and other notifications, you must sign up here by entering your email address. This is an “opt in” procedure; if National Audubon has your email address you must resubmit it through their new “citizen science network.” Should you not wish to receive email messages from NAS check for a downloadable copy of the CBC annual summary, which should be available in October.

Our checklist for the 53rd Concord CBC has been posted to the Results page. We have two first MACO records: a RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD observed at a feeder in Concord and a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER in Carlisle, also at a private feeding station. Both birds were photographed and the hummingbird was banded. Five MERLINS are an all-time count high and AMERICAN CROW might earn a record low after the numbers are adjusted for participation level. BLUE JAY produced another abysmally poor showing.

Other notable species were two GREATER SCAUP on Flint’s Pond in Lincoln, the first seen on Count Day since 1984, and an OSPREY, tallied by a veteran CBCer in Wayland. Nine Ospreys were accounted for in the Heard Pond area this Fall and a single bird was spotted tarrying there the week previous to Count Day. A RED-HEADED WOODPECKER was located and photographed by a Wayland field team. Wayland produced an RHWO for us last year. Way to go, Wayland! A single AMERICAN PIPIT was seen by our Great Meadows team in Concord and, finally, an “OREGON” JUNCO is wintering at the same feeders where it was tallied last year on the count and is presumably the same bird.

Stormy conditions in the early hours kept most of our nocturnal birders home, which might account for weak numbers for the owls, and the less than average total count of 29,104 individuals should be attributed to a lower field participation level than we have have seen in several years.

The 53rd Concord Count has ended and we are compiling our data. When all returns are submitted by our town sectors we will post the results on this site. A big thanks to all our volunteers who contributed to the effort this year and at every level.

MAPS! Yes, we have two new maps of our count circle created by Dan Stimson, Assistant Director of Stewardship at Sudbury Valley Trustees. Our user friendliest map shows the count circle and the town boundaries superimposed on a familiar Google street map. The important features are here: lakes, ponds, and streams, conservation areas, and of course roads. You can view it here.

For the hard core map nerds who prefer a physical map with more detail a USGS topo can be downloaded from this site to your computer. Download CCBC Quad Map.

Thanks, Dan!

Join us Sunday, December 29, 2013 for another winter bird count adventure.

Welcome, CBCers –

This is the blog page and web site for volunteers joining the Concord, Massachusetts Christmas Bird Count. We thank you on behalf of the Concord count circle and the sponsor of the CBC, the National Audubon Society, for your participation. The Audubon web site has a summary of the history of CBC and a description of what the volunteers do. Check it out. You do not have to join the National Audubon Society to participate.

Sudbury Valley Trustees, a regional land trust based in Sudbury, is the Concord circle’s sponsoring organization. SVT generously arranges and hosts our evening countdown event.

Count Day is December 30, 2012 midnight to midnight. Check this page for news and updates. New messages will appear at the top. Volunteers should click on their town, listed on the sidebar, for their coordinators’ contact information. Also, we urge you to read the How to sections—there is a lot more to this job than simply counting birds. A printable text version is located here. Please submit comments and questions and the Communications Director will respond (as soon as he can) and post them for the benefit of our readers.

In anticipation,

Your Concord Count compilers