Date: 1/12/26 6:41 pm From: Erik Thomas (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Raven Rock St. Pk. CBC results
The 45th installment of the Raven Rock St. Pk. Christmas Bird Count
took place on December 20, 2025. The name of the count is a little
misleading because the count circle covers most of Harnett County but,
because the park has grown since the count began in 1981, it doesn't
include all of the park.
This year we had nice weather for the count, sunny with fairly mild
temperatures ranging from 33ºF to 56ºF, and only a little breeze.
In spite of the good weather, our numbers were down this year. We had 77
species, our lowest since 2019 (but two more during count week), and 4452
individual birds, our lowest since 1987(!). We had fewer parties in the
field than usual, which may partly account for the low numbers, but we've
had times with this many parties before and did better. Dry conditions may
have played a role. The numbers of individual birds are determined by how
many large flocks are present, and even the Common Grackles, our most
numerous species this time, didn't come close to some of their past totals.
We had one new species for the count, an Ovenbird that Jeff Mielke and
Quentin Read found. Aside from the Ovenbird, one species set a count
record, the Bufflehead, with 30. David Brown helped us find all three
species of local owls (the Great Horned during count week) with some
nocturnal birding.
We missed the Eastern Meadowlark for the first time in the history of the
count. That may reflect the increasing numbers of housing developments in
Harnett County. We also missed the Wild Turkey, which was probably just
the luck of the draw, since there are turkeys around.
We'll be holding our Spring Count in late April or early May. I hope we
can put together more birding parties, so please let me know if you're
interested in participating.
