Date: 12/30/25 8:34 am From: Ross Brittain <rossalanbrittain...> Subject: Tygart Lake CBC results
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!
