The 67th annual Errol-Umbagog Christmas Bird Count took place on Thursday,
December 19. This year’s 19 participants found an above-average total of 32
species, plus an additional count week species. The total of 811 individual
birds was below average (record high = 3314 in 2011, 67-yr average = 974),
and the lowest total number of birds tallied since 2018. Participants were
divided into 7 birding parties, logging a total of 49 party hours and
covered 147.35 miles, including 37.35 by foot. There was no owling or
nocturnal birding effort, in part due to snowy conditions affecting travel
in the morning and many teams heading south after the compilation.
Temperatures ranged from 21-33 F, and there was an increasing, 5-30mph
northwest wind. Snow depth ranged from 2” to 5”. The sky was overcast in
the morning, with a few breaks in the clouds by the afternoon and scattered
snow showers throughout the day. Still water was fully frozen, and moving
water was partially frozen. As opposed to last year when wild food was
abundant, soft mast and cone crops were poor, though birch catkins were in
good supply.
Black-capped Chickadee numbers were notably low with only 360 individuals
tallied (the average for the last 10 years is 509). Winter finch numbers
were also low with no species breaking 100 individuals, though Pine
Grosbeak was the only winter finch to be missed entirely. .
One count record high was set with 7 Ring-necked Pheasants counted at
Rivervail Farm by Glen and Lori Chretien and Caroline Fegley, and Ben
Griffith and Lauren Kras found 3 Tufted Titmice, tying the record high set
in 2020. White-breasted Nuthatches (not recorded last year) tied for their
second-highest count. The 5 most numerous species were Black-capped
Chickadee (360), American Goldfinch (98), Red-breasted Nuthatch (52),
Common Raven (38), and Mourning Dove (29).
We welcomed three new participants to the count this year. Many thanks to
everyone who took part in the day!
