SRCSD - Christmas Bird Count

Sacramento Watershed

Our Beautiful Bufferlands

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Our Beautiful Bufferlands

Intro | 2005 Annual Report (1,508K pdf) | Applied Research | Master Plan
Managing Wetlands & Waterfowl | Calendar of Events | Docents
Christmas Bird Count | Map | Burrowing Owls | Upper Beach Lake

Christmas Bird Count

2007 Updated Count

FACT SHEET

This holiday season, more than 60,000 people from Alaska to Argentina will spend one day counting birds as part of the largest wildlife census in the world -The National Audubon's Christmas Bird Count. Over 2000 bird counts are scheduled to take place during the Christmas Bird Count time period.

History:

The Christmas Bird Count originated as a protest to a traditional holiday 'side hunt' in which teams competed to see who could shoot the most birds in one day. In 1900, 27 conservationists decided to protest the traditional shoot by counting birds instead of shooting them. This new tradition has now grown to include areas in most nations, with over 50,000 people helping the event. The information collected during the Christmas Bird Count provides valuable statistics on declines and increases in particular species, geographical shifts in winter ranges and other indicators of the status of bird populations.

Since 1995, The Bufferlands staff have participated in the important event as part of their baseline biological sampling program. This count is performed as part of a larger count, the Rio Cosumnes/Stone Lakes count which covers a large area stretching from Mack Rd to Twin Cities Rd. During the past 13 years, the Bufferlands portion of the Rio Cosumnes event has yielded between 90 and 120 species, an amazing number of different birds for such a small area.

Why:

The health and number of individual birds and bird species provides an indicator of the health of our environment. The information collected during the Christmas Bird Count provides valuable statistics on declines and increases in particular species, geographical shifts in winter ranges and other indicators of the status of bird populations.

The Rules:

Participants count the number of individual birds and bird species within areas known as count circles. Each count circle is an area 15 miles in diameter. Counters cover as much of their assigned circle area as possible within one calendar day, counting the birds and species they see or hear. Representatives from each counting group then meet at the end of the day to compile a master list and eliminate duplicate counting of birds. A census may also be taken of all bird feeders located within the count circles.

Successes:

In 1999, SRCSD staff verified a record 104 species for the first time in Bufferlands' history and have recorded above 100 each year since. This is notable because counts conducted in larger areas with acreage greater than that of Sacramento County Bufferlands approximately 3,000 acres often record fewer than 100 species. This large number of species in an area this size indicates a very high degree of diversity. Two major factors for this tremendous diversity are:

The existence of multiple types of habitat including permanent and seasonal wetlands, open water, shallow water mud flats, uplands, riparian forests, agricultural fields and urban landscapes.
The success SRCSD Bufferlands staff have had in increasing or maintaining all of the habitats originally located in the Bufferlands area.

During the years, there have been some rare and unique birds sighted on the Bufferlands during the day-long event. Some of the most notable observations include:

A prairie falcon was seen during 10 of the 13 events
A least bittern - the only one observed north of the Salton Sea during the statewide event (1996)
A tropical kingbird - the first ever recorded in Sacramento County or the Central Valley (1995)
A flock over 1/4 million blackbirds (1996, 2006, 2007)
A Swainson's hawk which did not migrate south for the winter has been seen on 3 different years. It has long been suspected that a few individuals are resident and do not migrate. Our sightings have helped add to the database concerning this behavior. (1998, 1999, 2001)
Yellow-billed magpie numbers have reached record lows during recent yearsand have just started to rebound - this could be linked to West Nile virus occurrence in California

Location:

SRCSD Bufferlands, 8521 Laguna Station Road, Elk Grove, CA 95758

Contacts:

Roger Jones Natural Resource Specialist SRCSD	phone: (916) 875-9174
	jonesr@sacsewer.com
Bernie Galvin Public Information Specialist SRCSD	phone: (916) 876-6071
	galvinb@sacsewer.com