Monday, January 20, 2014

The results are in: 134 total species!


A SPOTTED OWL found in the Pine Canyon section of the CBC! (photo K.Baeza)



The results are in:
A grand total of 62 participants broke into 30 parties throughout the day and logged an amazing 278.85 miles by foot, car, and boat to record the 134 species detected on the Atascosa Highlands CBC this year!  A breakdown of the stats below:

134 species
62 participants
30 parties
0 feeder watchers
156.25 foot hours
28.25 car hours
152.05 car miles
3 boat hours
1 boat mile

Total 187.5 hours
Total 278.85 miles (448.77km)

Two new bird species were added to the overall checklist; a Summer Tanager found in California Gulch and a Tree Swallow spied flying over Arivaca Lake.  17 new high counts were tallied for the following species (including 2 subspecies):

Species or ssp: new record / old record
Turkey Vulture 2 / 1
Eared Grebe 15 / 13
American Kestrel 40 / 29
Whiskered Screech Owl 11 / 6 (all-time record Ramsey Canyon with 14 in 1994)
Williamson’s Sapsucker 2 / 1
Vermilion Flycatcher 9 / 7
Plumbeous Vireo 4 / 2
Common Raven 106 / 103
Bewick’s Wren 333 / 263
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 17 / 16
Townsend’s Solitaire 79 / 68
Hermit Thrush 95 / 85
“Myrtle” Yellow-rumped Warbler 5 / 3
Common Yellowthroat 9 / 4
Rufous-winged Sparrow 190 / 90
“Slate-colored” Junco 4 / 3
Northern Cardinal 105 / 99

Notable species:
Ferruginous Hawk – only seen 4 previous years
Western Flycatcher – only seen 1 previous year
Loggerhead Shrike – 40 ties the old record of 40
Cassin’s Vireo – only seen 5 previous years
Orange-crowned Warbler – 4 ties the old record of 4
Five-striped Sparrow – 5 old record 6

Like in many counts throughout the state numbers of sparrows were very low this year.  One of the major water areas, Arivaca Lake, had extremely low water levels.  A couple of groups also noted that waterfowl hunters were out en mass which doesn’t help the situation either and may explain why overall waterfowl numbers were down.  

Thanks to all those who were able to help with this count and see you next year!

Jake Mohlmann
Tucson, AZ
Atascosa Highlands CBC - compiler


 

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