Phil, a very informative CBC report for a vicarious birder like myself. It
really gave me a full picture of how this year’s count fits into the long
term picture. Thanks for all you do. ——Don
On Sun, Dec 21, 2025 at 10:46 AM 'Phil Brown' via NHBirds <
<nhbirds...> wrote:
> On Wednesday, December 17, 2025, *a record-high twenty participants
> conducted the 75th annual Pittsburg Christmas Bird Count*. This count was
> started in 1950 and has missed only one year between then and now.
>
> Observers in seven parties covered 203.85 miles, including 22.35 by
> foot/ski, and spent 48.4 party hours in the field. This increased effort
> allowed coverage of Hall Stream Road, which represented about 25% of all
> individuals counted and contributed seven unique species to the overall
> tally. All combined, counters tallied a respectable, above-average *total
> of 36 bird species* on count day. Even with the increased coverage, the* total
> of 1,030 individual birds was well below the recent average.*
>
> Temperatures were on the warm side (between 20-32 F) with partly cloudy to
> cloudy skies and variable winds ranging from calm to 15 mph. Light snow
> fell later in the afternoon. Still water was frozen, while rivers and
> larger streams were partly open. Snow amounts were highly variable, ranging
> from 2” in southern parts of town to 26” of snow in the East Inlet and
> northern Rt. 3 areas.
>
> *No new species* were added to the all-time count list this year, and *no
> additional count week species* were found.
>
> A *record-high count* was noted for just one species: *Wild Turkey (80)*,
> with a *record-tying count* set for *Northern Saw-whet Owl (2)*.
>
> *Irruptives and other northern species* were well-represented, but some
> were generally present in low numbers. These included American Goshawk (2),
> Black-backed Woodpecker (2; first since 2013), Northern Shrike (2), Canada
> Jay (30), Boreal Chickadee (7), Red-breasted Nuthatch (54), Golden-crowned
> Kinglet (20), Snow Bunting (15), Pine Grosbeak (40), Red Crossbill (7),
> Common Redpoll (1), Pine Siskin (2), American Goldfinch (46), and Evening
> Grosbeak (201).
>
> *Black-capped Chickadees (159) posted their lowest totals since 1985*,
> and Boreal Chickadees (7) were also low. Birds were generally sparsely
> distributed through woodlands. Teams reported low single digits of
> chickadees together, and chickadees were more concentrated at feeders.
>
> *The five most numerous bird species* on the count were Evening Grosbeak
> (201), Black-capped Chickadee (159), Wild Turkey (80), Blue Jay (69), and
> American Crow (58). Species seen at least on half of all counts but *missed
> this year* were Mourning Dove, White-winged Crossbill, Purple Finch, and
> House Sparrow.
>
> Mammal observations included a visual observation of an American Marten,
> Ermine, and Snowshoe Hare, among other usual detections of species and
> tracks.
>
> We welcomed *FIVE new participants* to the Pittsburg CBC this year.
> Thanks to ALL the participants who kept this count going strong for yet
> another year:
>
> Chris Martin, Bob Quinn, Glen Chretien, Lori-Ann Chretien, Alan Chretien,
> Katrina Fenton, Levi Burford, Lori Charron, Paul Charron, Joanne Dionne,
> Tom Young, Dave Young, Ella Young, Jim McCoy, Chris Howe, Craig Repasz,
> Christin Arnini, Dan Gardoqui, and Matt Tarr.
>
> Phil Brown
> Compiler, Pittsburg CBC
> Hancock, NH
>
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