Countdown dinner - Wisdom's Cafe

CBC participants -

The countdown dinner is often the most exciting part of the day!  Teams will each have a chance to tell exciting events that happened as well as any notable bird sightings.  Having a warm place with good food is crucial to this end of the day activity which is why I am happy to announce that Wisdom's Cafe has graciously offered to host our count-off dinner this season!  If you've never been here before I can highly recommend!  It's delicious authentic Mexican cuisine at its finest!

Check out their website for the menu.  http://www.wisdomscafe.com/

They are located 3 miles south of Tubac and 1500 feet north of the Tumacacori Mission, on the east side of the road. Take the Tumacacori/Carmen exit and head north on the east side frontage road. This exit is just 9 minutes south of the Amado Exit for those covering the west side of the circle and escaping via Arivaca Road rather than the Ruby Road exit on I-19.

The restaurant opens at 5:00p.m. so you can arrive anytime after that.  I will try my best to arrive by 6:00p.m. shortly after which I will begin the count-off. 

cheers,

Jake Mohlmann
Compiler
Atascosa Highlands CBC

Date for this season's CBC - Friday January 2nd 2015 ! ! !

Highly desirable species like this Whiskered Screech-Owl are possible. 11 were detected on last years count!  ©photo by Jake Mohlmann

This season's Atascosa Highlands Christmas Bird Count will be held on January 2nd, 2015. The only other CBC being held on this date in Arizona is the Carefree count located north of Phoenix. If you're not planning on attending that count and if you're available to help with the Atascosa Highlands count please email Jake Mohlmann (mohlmann2 AT yahoo.com) to sign-up! 

Click here for a list of Arizona's other CBCs.

See you out there!

Jake Mohlmann
Compiler
Atascosa Highlands CBC

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