Date: 2/19/25 8:19 am From: Logan Kahle via groups.io <logan...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Sherman Island CBC results
Hi All,
On January 4, 2025 35 birders set out to participate in the 8th annual Sherman Island Christmas Bird Count. While this count is incredibly diverse for an inland count, participation has meant numbers have not been as high as they could be, but this year there was a perfect convergence of a competent crew spread throughout the count circle, a great year for local rarities, and good weather resulting in an astonishing species total of 165 Species for the count, 16 higher than our previous count high of 149.
There were a remarkable 13 new species recorded for the count: Common Loon, Red-throated Loon, American Bittern, Least Bittern, Long-eared Owl, Mountain Plover, Least Flycatcher, Rock Wren, Winter Wren, Mountain Bluebird, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Swamp Sparrow, Purple Finch. Additionally there were second count records of Spotted Sandpiper, American Bittern, Bald Eagle, Short-eared Owl, Hutton's Vireo, Phainopepla, and Brown Creeper, and third count records of White-throated Swift and Oak Titmouse.
We missed several species which have formerly been routine on this count: Wood Duck (reliable areas in the circle at dusk but not checked on the day), Glaucous-winged Gull (bad year for gulls in the circle), Thayer's Gull (same), Rough-legged Hawk (horrible year for them), Western Screech-Owl (no longer regular at traditional Ryer spots though a single bird was found freshly dead on the side of the road in that general region), Burrowing Owl (our worst miss, and several were seen on count week), Yellow-billed Magpie (not at their traditional spot on Ryer this year), Wrentit (resident in small numbers on certain reedy islands but tried for extensively by the boat crew and missed).
There were a total of 26 species seen in only one area, of which 17 were of just a single individual: Blue-winged Teal, Barrow's Goldeneye, Horned Grebe, Osprey, Spotted Sandpiper, Western Gull, Prairie Falcon, Least Flycatcher, Winter Wren, Pacific Wren, Oak Titmouse, Brown Creeper, Hutton's Vireo, White-breasted Nuthatch, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Purple Finch, Swamp Sparrow.
The additional one territory only birds included: Cinnamon Teal, American Avocet, Least Bittern, Golden Eagle, Common Loon, Mountain Plover, Cattle Egret, Long-eared Owl, White-throated Swift. A single bird (Western Screech-Owl) was found dead in one area, and another (Burrowing Owl) was found for count week.
New to the count was the formation of a new area, Area 9, the Sacramento River by boat as covered by Aidan Brubaker and Etan Monk. With this help we were able to get much better counts of waterbirds than ever before on the count.
We set new count high counts of Mute Swan (a disgusting 338. Somebody needs to start culling these things), Lesser Scaup (1908, thanks entirely to area 9), Hooded Merganser (65, prev high 28), Ruddy Duck (about 2500, prev high 1400), Bufflehead (1355, prev high 669), Ring-necked Pheasant (128, prev high 19. Thanks almost entirely to coverage of Webb Tract (recent release maybe?)), Wild Turkey (80, prev high 28. Thanks almost entirely to two groups on Bethel Island and Rio Vista), Pied-billed Grebe (258, pre high 119. Mostly due to area 9), Turkey Vulture (245, prev high 188), Swainson's Hawk (23, prev high 7), Red-tailed Hawk (297, prev high 232), White-faced Ibis (139), Virginia Rail (39, prev high 15), Sora (44, prev high 16), Sandhill Crane (2768, prev high 1517), Rock Pigeon (2988, prev high 1852), Anna's Hummingbird (170, prev high 141), American Kestrel (150, prev high 117), Common Raven (106, prev high 84), Horned Lark (1333, prev high 47), Tree Swallow (241, prev high 134), Barn Swallow (12, prev high 1), House Wren (70), Common Yellowthroat (193, prev high 76), White-crowned Sparrow (2366, prev high 1975), White-throated Sparrow (5, prev high 3), Song Sparrow (394, prev high 186), Spotted Towhee (132, prev high 114), Western Meadowlark (1929, prev high 1100), Brewer's Blackbird (16869, prev 14,351), Brown-headed Cowbird (2765, prev 289), House Finch (2765, prev high 1733),
Minor high counts included: American Wigeon (385, new high count by 1), Common Goldeneye (746, new high count by 7), California Quail (44, high count by 2), Great Egret (294, prev high 274), Cattle Egret (tied prev high, all in one area), Mew Gull (54, prev high 47. Almost all at Piper Slough), Barn Owl (9, tied prev high), Great Horned Owl (40, tied prev high), Short-eared Owl (3, prev high 2), Orange-crowned Warbler (103, prev high 98), California Towhee (43, tied high count)
Low counts included Tundra Swan (47), Northern Shoveler (189), American White Pelican (19), Ferruginous Hawk (3, tied low), California Gull (44), American Robin (93, prev low 279), Cedar Waxwing (4, prev low 27), Red-winged Blackbird (25,608, prev 31,576).
In general, shorebird and dabbling duck numbers were pretty low considering effort, reflecting lack of standing water in many areas of the region. Collared-Doves continue to show their downward trajectory in the region, with only 200 this year, compared to a high of 834 in 2019-20 and a low of 173 in 2021-22.
