Date: 1/11/26 9:20 am From: Harry LeGrand (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Raleigh CBC results -- December 20, and comments on counting every bird within the count circle
Folks,
I have copied CBC compiler Brian O'Shea's detailed commentary on the count (between the dashed rows), sent just to the Raleigh count participants, but have removed some sentences dealing with praise for counters, etc., to shorten things. But, it is important to present the full totals here. ----------------------------------
We had another great count this year, with 64+ participants in 28 parties. We did great this year, with no fewer than *107 species*! I have to admit, I was nervous going into this year's count, as I had gotten the general impression that there were fewer birds around than usual as we headed into the count period. But we managed to get almost every semi-regular species for the Raleigh CBC, and decent numbers as well. Our individual count was *15,684 birds*, a couple thousand fewer than last year but well within the typical range of variation for this count. And we had some really great birds too. A Western Tanager found by Emma Little on the Walnut Creek greenway was a first for the Raleigh CBC. So was a Nashville Warbler found by Emma Blackford at Prairie Ridge. (Pro tip: If you want to find great birds, go out with someone named Emma). TWO new species for the Raleigh CBC! I can't recall the last time that happened. And we narrowly missed a third - Say's Phoebe - that had been frequenting the Mid-Pines Rd area but sadly did not appear on count day. It did, however, make the Count Week list, along with Sandhill Crane and Blue-headed Vireo.
Other goodies were singles of Northern Harrier and Loggerhead Shrike - both easily missed; a total of 19 Greater Yellowlegs on Lake Benson and Lake Wheeler; a Forster's Tern on Lake Wheeler; Peregrine Falcon and Vesper Sparrow at Mid-Pines; and three Black-and-white Warblers at different locations in the circle.
Below you will find the complete species list and numbers for the 2025 count. Once again, thanks to all of you for participating. Have a great year everyone! And mark your calendars for the 2026 count on Saturday, December 19. All the best, Brian
Raleigh CBC - December 20, 2025 107 species (+3 CW)
Canada Goose 993 Mute Swan 10 Wood Duck 12 Green-winged Teal 140 Gadwall 90 American Black Duck 62 Mallard 683 Northern Pintail 2 Northern Shoveler 33 American Wigeon 7 Redhead 6 Ring-necked Duck 18 Bufflehead 84 Hooded Merganser 347 Red-breasted Merganser 2 Ruddy Duck 147 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 377 Mourning Dove 109 American Coot 42 Killdeer 156 American Woodcock 3 Wilson's Snipe 27 Greater Yellowlegs 19 Bonaparte's Gull 11 Ring-billed Gull 758 Herring Gull 3 Gull sp. 2 Forster's Tern 1 Pied-billed Grebe 39 Double-crested Cormorant 1078 Great Egret 2 Great Blue Heron 61 Black Vulture 70 Turkey Vulture 97 Northern Harrier 1 Bald Eagle 29 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 Cooper's Hawk 10 Red-shouldered Hawk 49 Red-tailed Hawk 26 Great Horned Owl 4 Barred Owl 8 Belted Kingfisher 22 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 90 Red-headed Woodpecker 7 Red-bellied Woodpecker 208 Downy Woodpecker 152 Hairy Woodpecker 20 Pileated Woodpecker 19 Northern Flicker 77 American Kestrel 3 Peregrine Falcon 1 Eastern Phoebe 59 Loggerhead Shrike 1 Blue Jay 181 American Crow 299 Fish Crow 6 Common Raven 3 Horned Lark 3 Carolina Chickadee 333 Tufted Titmouse 312 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 269 Golden-crowned Kinglet 109 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 White-breasted Nuthatch 134 Brown-headed Nuthatch 145 Brown Creeper 15 House Wren 1 Winter Wren 27 Carolina Wren 306 European Starling 195 Gray Catbird 7 Brown Thrasher 33 Northern Mockingbird 93 Eastern Bluebird 252 Hermit Thrush 78 American Robin 614 American Pipit 27 Cedar Waxwing 652 House Sparrow 34 House Finch 272 Purple Finch 77 Pine Siskin 1 American Goldfinch 352 Chipping Sparrow 262 Field Sparrow 37 Savannah Sparrow 77 Fox Sparrow 15 Dark-eyed Junco 271 White-throated Sparrow 1422 Vesper Sparrow 3 Song Sparrow 388 Swamp Sparrow 38 Eastern Towhee 127 Baltimore Oriole 18 Eastern Meadowlark 31 Red-winged Blackbird 171 Rusty Blackbird 45 Brown-headed Cowbird 322 Common Grackle 564 Black-and-white Warbler 3 Orange-crowned Warbler 1 Palm Warbler 6 Pine Warbler 64 Nashville Warbler 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler 291 Western Tanager 1 Northern Cardinal 415 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are a few of my (Harry's) comments:
1. Misses --very few, obviously: Lesser Scaup, E. Screech-Owl (missed for maybe 10 or more years now), Blue-headed Vireo, Common Yellowthroat (missed for a number of years; used to be regular but in low numbers on the count). On rare occasions there can be a Common Loon or Horned Grebe, but the lakes in the circle are mostly too small for them.
2. I cannot vouch for the Pine Siskin, which has been quite rare in the lowlands this fall and winter; most people have not recorded any during this period. So, whether it was correctly identified, I have no idea.
3. Say's Phoebe -- This would have been a true red-letter bird for the count and would be a first here. This bird was seen routinely from the end of November until mid-December but was last seen 2-3 days before count day.
4. Sandhill Crane -- There were 3 Sandhill Cranes literally seen ON count day, but by someone not on the count (and he didn't even know there was a count going on). These were seen and heard in flight over Mid-Pines Road around 1:00 pm -- sadly, while many of the counters were breaking for lunch and a midday tally indoors at the nearby Yates Mill park visitor center!! This brings up a very sticky and contentious CBC issue -- *whether to count ANY species/bird that was found within the count circle on count day, whether seen by "official" counters or not.* Both Brian and I agree that these cranes should NOT be added to the count, even though there are just one or two previous county records at all, and of course would be a new count species. Brian has rightly added the species to the "count period list", which is the 7-day period of 3 days before and 3-days after the count.
Now, I have asked a handful of other folks whether the cranes should be added to the count list/totals, and MOST said "yes". But, this would be wrong on several accounts, for which Brian and I agree:
a. Though all count circles are the same size, some circles have literally hundreds of birders and probably 100 or more eBird lists submitted EVERY DAY within the roughly 175 square miles. This would include Raleigh, Charlotte, and probably places like Greensboro, Asheville, Winston-Salem, Durham, and Wilmington. If you were to cherry-pick JUST the 3 Sandhill Cranes and add that to the count totals, then to be really correct, you should/would need to add in EVERY bird on EVERY eBird list taken within the Raleigh count circle on December 20! That -- as you should see -- is impractical and essentially impossible.
b. Adding in 3 Sandhill Cranes to the Raleigh count gives Raleigh and other cities a HUGE advantage over counts in remote areas, where the ONLY eBird lists within that 175-mile circle are probably just the ones done by counters. You should see the problem with that.
c. Many people, not to mention the National Audubon Society, compare count data from one year to another, using birds per party-hours, for example. If you were to cherry-pick good birds off EVERY list that was posted within the 175-mile circle, or even add in many eBird list totals from non-counters, you get an unbalanced data set, and the party-hours would become difficult to obtain from those other people and the data would somewhat impaired. Heck, Raleigh already has an advantage over most counts by having 28 parties this year! Most counts have to get by with 3-5 parties and maybe under 10-15 participants.
