Date: 1/2/26 6:04 pm From: Terry Marron <00000d129fea9673-dmarc-request...> Subject: [VTBIRD] CBC/WBC results for Champlain Islands
Hi folks,
It's almost the end of the count window with just a few more to go. Here are the results of our Dec 14th count this year in the Champlain Islands. Happy birding!
Lake Champlain Islands/St. Albans CBC – VTCS
Our count was held on December 14, 2025. This was our 39th count since moving the circle to its present location in 1987.
We had 37 people in the field and 14 people watching feeders. We logged 4 hours (13 miles) of nocturnal birding; 19 hours (17 miles) of daytime birding by foot; 48.5 hours (342 miles) of daytime birding by car; and 26.75 hours watching feeders.
Temperatures were typical, ranging from 19 to 24 degrees. Winds ranged from 3 to 12 mph. It was cloudy to partly cloudy all day, with light snow in the afternoon in some sectors. Snow on the ground ranged from zero to 12 inches. Due to very cold temperatures during the previous week, bays and shallow areas of the lake were mostly frozen. As a result, waterfowl numbers were 60% below the average of the last 10 years. While the numbers of Mallards and American Black Ducks were somewhat above the 10-year average, there were no large rafts of Common Goldeneyes or Common Mergansers.
We tallied 67 species on count day plus 3 count week species. By comparison, our highest number of count-day species was 76 in 2005, and our average number of count-day species is 65 in the present circle location. We added one new species to the circle -- a Gray Catbird found in the St. Albans sector. Our total number of birds was 8,310, or 8,234 excluding Snow Geese. (It's useful to exclude Snow Geese since large numbers in some years can skew the data.) Without Snow Geese, total birds were 43% below our long-term average and 25% below our recent 10-year average.
Here are a few highlights:
New count day species:
Gray Catbird - 1
New high counts:
Bald Eagle - 17 Previous high was 15 in 2018 & 2020
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 27 Previous high was 25 in 2022
Northern Flicker - 13 Previous high was 9 in 2016
Dark-eyed Junco - 457 Previous high was 365 in 2016
Northern Cardinal - 205 Previous high was 204 in 2009
Rare finds:
Green-winged Teal - 1 Found in only 8 previous counts, most recently in 2024 cw
Snowy Owl - 1 (count week) Found in only 8 previous counts, most recently in 2020
Short-eared Owl 1 (count week) Found in only 8 previous counts, most recently in 2016
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1 Found in only 4 previous counts, most recently in 2024
Merlin - 1 Found in only 11 previous counts, most recently in 2023
Winter Wren - 1 Found in only 4 previous counts, most recently in 2023
White-crowned Sparrow - 1 Found in only 6 previous counts, most recently in 2018 cw
