The Charlottesville Christmas Bird Count took place on Sunday, January 1, 2024, having been re-scheduled from December 17 when forecasts indicted heavy rain. The weather on Jan 1 was cloudy, temperatures between 36-45 deg F, winds between 5-15 mph. The total number of species was 79, reported by 56 participants. Five rare birds were observed and rare bird reports were submitted:
- Snow Goose, Lickinghole Creek, Cricket Barlow
- Trumpeter Swan and Northern Pintail, Ragged Mt. Reservoir, Will Kurtz
- Snow Goose, Beaver Creek Reservoir, Brad Odom
- Common Merganser, Beaver Creek Reservoir, Jim Nix
- Common Merganser, Darden Towe Park, Penny Reighart;
- Canada Goose Hybrid, Beaver Creek Reservoir, Brad Odom.
All submissions have been accepted except for the Canada Goose Hybrid which is still under review.
The list includes some all-time high counts from our first report in 1924 to the present:
- Snow Goose, 2 this year
- Trumpeter Swan, 1 ties with Cricket Barlow’s and David Shoch’s sighting at Lickinghole Creek in 2016
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, 113
- Common Raven, 30
- Gray Catbird, 4
Speaking of 1924, our next count will be our 100th. More on that to come.
I have been following a pattern of scheduling our count for the first Sunday after Dec. 14 (the permanent official opening of the CBC season). That means you can fast forward each year and mark the date for the next count on your calendar. So the 2024 count will be Sunday, December 15, with the rain date Dec 22.
Following are the species reported:
- Snow Goose
- Canada Goose
- Trumpeter Swan
- Wood Duck
- American Black Duck
- Mallard
- Northern Pintail
- Green-winged Teal
- Ring-necked Duck
- Hooded Merganser
- Common Merganser
- Wild Turkey
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Great Blue Heron
- Black Vulture
- Turkey Vulture
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- Cooper’s Hawk
- Bald Eagle
- Red-shouldered Hawk
- Killdeer
- Wilson’s Snipe
- Rock Pigeon
- Mourning Dove
- Eastern Screech Owl
- Great Horned Owl
- Barred Owl
- Belted Kingfisher
- Red-headed Woodpecker
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Hairy Woodpecker
- Northern Flicker
- Pileated Woodpecker
- American Kestrel
- Eastern Phoebe
- Blue Jay
- American Crow
- Fish Crow
- Common Raven
- Carolina Chickadee
- Tufted Titmouse
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Brown Creeper
- Winter Wren
- Carolina Wren
- Golden-crowned Kinglet
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Eastern Bluebird
- Hermit Thrush
- American Robin
- Gray Catbird
- Brown Thrasher
- Northern Mockingbird
- European Starling
- American Pipit
- Cedar Waxwing
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- American Tree Sparrow
- Chipping Sparrow
- Field Sparrow
- Fox Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- White-crowned Sparrow
- White-throated Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Swamp Sparrow
- Eastern Towhee
- Northern Cardinal
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Common Grackle
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- House Finch
- Purple Finch
- American Goldfinch
- House Sparrow
