Date: 12/19/25 10:00 pm From: Ethan Monk via groups.io <z.querula...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] East Contra Costa CBC Summary
The 26th annual EAST CONTRA COSTA Christmas Bird Count kicked off December
17th, 2025 with high overcast, fog, and light to moderate rain across the
circle. The day finished with partially overcast to sunny skies and low
wind, particularly nice as Tuesday afternoon was the first sunshine some
parts of the count circle had seen in 24 days. A few over 40 bird counters
ended the day observing 157 species, which beats our previous record total
of 155 species by two. Three species new to the count (!) were two
Blue-winged Teal at Big Break Regional Shoreline (Mona Lange, Sammy Cowell,
Nancy Salsig, Carol Pachl), a California Thrasher at Round Valley (Scott
and Claudia Hein, Joel Herr, Bruce and Joan Hamilton) and a Lawrence’s
Goldfinch at Clifton Court Forebay (Forest Chapman). The only rarities for
Contra Costa County were one “Lesser” Canada Goose at Holland Tract (Ethan
Monk, Dominik Mosur, Ted Robertson, Jeff Manker) and a Rough-legged Hawk at
Clifton Court Forebay (Forest Chapman). The hawk has been found on 13
previous counts, but is now less than annual on the count and in the
county, last being seen in the county and on the count in Dec. 2022.
Species found recorded in fewer than 33% of previous counts included
Cinnamon Teal at Big Break Reg. Shoreline (Mona Lange, Sammy Cowell, Nancy
Salsig, Carol Pachl, 3 previous count records), Chipping Sparrow at the
intersection of Payne x Walnut Blvd. (Ethan Monk, 3 prev. count records),
Canyon Wren at Round Valley (Scott and Claudia Hein, Joel Herr, Bruce and
Joan Hamilton, 3 prev.), Chestnut-backed Chickadee a species recently
recognized to be present on the oaky stretches of Marsh Creek in Brentwood
(Robert Raffel, Derek Heins, Bill Kezer, Lisa Weiss, Rosemary Nishikawa,
5), Redhead at Clifton Court Forebay (Forest Chapman, 5), Black-throated
Gray Warbler in Los Vaqueros (Maren Smith, Dan Sandri, Arnold Joe, Fernanda
Franco-Ferrera, Dan Fitzgerald, Joy Dardin, 7), Common Loon at Dutch Slough
Restoration Area (Jason Riggio, Isaac Aronow, Maggie Bourda, Amanda Kindel,
7), and Red-breasted Merganser at Clifton Court Forebay (Forest Chapman,
7). Also on this list is Mute Swan, having previously been found in 5 of
the count’s 25 previous years. On this year’s count, 49 Mute Swans were
found in four of the count’s ten different areas. The previous record high
count of Mute Swan for the count was 17 birds, found last year. The only
two bird species missed that have been seen on more than half of all
previous counts are Horned Grebe (records 14 previous years) and
Yellow-billed Magpie (records 14 previous years). The grebe is just
unlucky; on the other hand, magpies are now extirpated from Contra Costa
County and can no longer be found in the areas around the towns of
Knightsen or Byron. Similarly in decline, the preliminary count of
Collared-Dove is 56; the lowest total since 2012. With only 3 recorded,
this was the second worst year for Tricolored Blackbird in the count’s
history, with the record worst being 1 in 2020. The average found per year
in this circle sat at 624.2 prior to this count. The preliminary count of
Shrike is 19, the lowest in count history, and on the up, with over 790
preliminarily reported, Yellow-rumped Warblers were at their highest number
ever. The previous high count was 781 in 2005. The ten year average is
476.8. 80 Common Gallinule breaks the previous record of 67, with 63 at Big
Break alone!
Thank you to everyone who helped with the count. And until next year-
