On Tue, Dec 30, 2025 at 11:34 AM, Ross Brittain<rossalanbrittain...> wrote: Hello Birders,
The Tygart Lake CBC occurred this past Sunday (12/28) , 9 field
participants and 1 feeder/yard participant. Thanks to the efforts of these
volunteers, we found 2152 individual birds from 72 species, a count high in
species numbers!
Highlight species include the first time count species: Common Loon, Tundra
Swan (juvenile), American Wigeon, Lesser Scaup and an unidentified Tern
(seen by Cheyenne Carter at the dam - Common or Forster's but positive ID
was not possible). Other highlights were a count high of 4 Great Horned
Owls, 2 Winter Wrens, 2 Rusty Blackbirds, 1 Northern Harrier, 1 Wilson's
Snipe and 1 Merlin. The most abundant species was American Crow (509)
instead of the usual European Starling (211) with Canada Goose a
close third (193).
Here are the counts:
Species Total
Common Loon 1
Great Blue Heron 5
Tundra Swan 1
Canada Goose 193
Mallard 128
American Black Duck 8
Gadwall 7
American Wigeon 1
Ring-necked Duck 10
Lesser Scaup 1
Bufflehead 2
Hooded Merganser 13
Common Merganser 35
Turkey Vulture 2
Coopers Hawk 2
Northern Harrier 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 8
Red-tailed Hawk 21
Bald Eagle 10
American Kestrel 9
Merlin 1
Wild Turkey 4
Killdeer 6
Wilson's Snipe 1
Tern (Sterna sp.) 1
Rock Pigeon 4
Mourning Dove 40
Eastern Screech Owl 6
Great Horned Owl 4
Barred Owl 5
Belted Kingfisher 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 7
Red-headed Woodpecker 7
Red-bellied Woodpecker 24
Downy Woodpecker 12
Hairy Woodpecker 7
Northern Flicker 17
Pileated Woodpecker 15
Blue Jay 77
American Crow 509
Common Raven 10
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Carolina Chickadee 70
Brown Creeper 7
Tufted Titmouse 29
White-breasted Nuthatch 39
Red-breasted Nuthatch 3
Carolina Wren 21
Winter Wren 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet 33
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 6
Eastern Bluebird 27
Hermit Thrush 6
American Robin 37
Northern Mockingbird 16
Cedar Waxwing 13
European Starling 211
Yellow-rumped Warbler 4
Northern Cardinal 38
Eastern Towhee 20
Field Sparrow 31
American Tree Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 42
Swamp Sparrow 6
White-crowned Sparrow 12
White-throated Sparrow 62
Dark-eyed Junco 98
Rusty Blackbird 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 5
House Sparrow 52
American Goldfinch 25
House Finch 13
Individual Total 2152
Species Total 72
Thanks to my co-organizer Matt McKinney, Cleo McMahan, Micah Brittain, Nate
Rees, Cindy Mullens, Cheyenne Carter, Laura Ceperley (and her friends Kylie
and Sara whose last names I do not know) for dedicating their time and
skills to helping make the count a success. We could not do all this work
without your help!
