Simple List of Species and Numbers

Tucson Valley CBC 2013 Results	Totals
Greater White-fronted Goose	3
Wood Duck	3
Gadwall	62
American Wigeon	1257
Mallard	406
Mallard (Mexican)	2
Blue-winged Teal	6
Cinnamon Teal	23
Northern Shoveler	1598
Northern Pintail	45
Green-winged Teal	145
Canvasback	19
Redhead	1
Ring-necked Duck	156
Lesser Scaup	25
Black Scoter	1
Bufflehead	29
Hooded Merganser	13
Common Merganser	4
Ruddy Duck	162
Gambel's Quail	748
Pied-billed Grebe	33
Eared Grebe	4
Neotropic Cormorant	CW
Double-crested Cormorant	2
Great Blue Heron (Blue form)	9
Great Egret	33
Snowy Egret	6
Green Heron	4
Black-crowned Night-Heron	18
Northern Harrier	10
Sharp-shinned Hawk	20
Cooper's Hawk	99
Accipiter sp.	1
Harris's Hawk	12
Red-shouldered Hawk	1
Red-tailed Hawk	156
Golden Eagle	1
American Kestrel	58
Merlin	1
Peregrine Falcon	7
Prairie Falcon	9
Virginia Rail	4
Sora	15
Common Gallinule	1
American Coot	730
Killdeer	192
Black-necked Stilt	160
Spotted Sandpiper	31
Greater Yellowlegs	9
Least Sandpiper	141
Long-billed Dowitcher	18
Wilson's Snipe	17
Ring-billed Gull	2
Rock Pigeon	5375
Eurasian Collared-Dove	327
White-winged Dove	14
Mourning Dove	3544
Inca Dove	11
Greater Roadrunner	19
Barn Owl	2
Western Screech-Owl	3
Great Horned Owl	7
Burrowing Owl	1
White-throated Swift	152
Broad-billed Hummingbird	35
Violet-crowned Hummingbird	CW
Magnificent Hummingbird	1
Anna's Hummingbird	311
Costa's Hummingbird	45
Broad-tailed Hummingbird	2
hummingbird sp.	25
Belted Kingfisher	12
Lewis's Woodpecker	1
Acorn Woodpecker	1
Gila Woodpecker	496
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	CW
Red-naped Sapsucker	13
Ladder-backed Woodpecker	65
Arizona Woodpecker	3
Northern (Red-shafted) Flicker	168
Northern (Yellow-shafted) Flicker	1
Gilded Flicker	10
flicker sp.	1
Greater Pewee	1
Empidonax sp.	1
Black Phoebe	47
Say's Phoebe	52
Vermilion Flycatcher	267
Ash-throated Flycatcher	1
Cassin's Kingbird	4
Loggerhead Shrike	2
Plumbeous Vireo	7
Cassin's Vireo	CW
Hutton's Vireo	11
Steller's Jay	3
Western Scrub-Jay	18
Mexican Jay	7
Common Raven	102
Northern Rough-winged Swallow	1
Barn Swallow	1
Bridled Titmouse	14
Juniper Titmouse	2
Verdin	624
Bushtit	35
Red-breasted Nuthatch	1
White-breasted Nuthatch	8
Brown Creeper	2
Cactus Wren	139
Rock Wren	43
Canyon Wren	26
Bewick's Wren	24
House Wren	29
Marsh Wren	60
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	329
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	19
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher	85
Western Bluebird	154
Mountain Bluebird	2
Townsend's Solitaire	1
Hermit Thrush	24
American Robin	14
Northern Mockingbird	133
Curve-billed Thrasher	152
Crissal Thrasher	1
European Starling	2270
American Pipit	45
Cedar Waxwing	1
Phainopepla	287
Louisiana Waterthrush	1
Orange-crowned Warbler	98
Yellow Warbler	2
Palm Warbler	1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (total)	1843
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)	1839
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	4
Black-throated Gray Warbler	7
Townsend's Warbler	1
Pine Warbler	1
Common Yellowthroat	17
Wilson's Warbler	2
Summer Tanager	1
Western Tanager	CW
Green-tailed Towhee	2
Spotted Towhee	15
Canyon Towhee	31
Abert's Towhee	380
Rufous-winged Sparrow	5
Rufous-crowned Sparrow	15
Chipping Sparrow	159
Brewer's Sparrow	22
Black-chinned Sparrow	18
Vesper Sparrow	7
Lark Sparrow	50
Black-throated Sparrow	35
Savannah Sparrow	11
Fox Sparrow	1
Song Sparrow	158
Lincoln's Sparrow	106
Swamp Sparrow	CW
White-crowned Sparrow (total)	1063
White-crowned Sparrow (Gambel's)	1063
Dark-eyed Junco (total)	18
Dark-eyed Junco (unknown type)	1
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)	5
Dark-eyed Junco (Pink-sided)	7
Dark-eyed Junco (Gray-headed)	5
Yellow-eyed Junco	1
Northern Cardinal	35
Pyrrhuloxia	34
Red-winged Blackbird	1506
Western Meadowlark	14
Yellow-headed Blackbird	1360
Brewer's Blackbird	212
Great-tailed Grackle	1044
Bronzed Cowbird	36
Brown-headed Cowbird	58
blackbird sp.	20000
Bullock's Oriole	1
House Finch	2583
Lesser Goldfinch	1045
Lawrence's Goldfinch	7
American Goldfinch	CW
House Sparrow	1349
Total Species on Count Day	164
Total Individuals	55558
Total Count-week species	7

The 42nd Tucson Valley CBC Summary

Harris's Hawk – A declining species in Tucson?

This was a Christmas Bird Count to remember. A record number of 164 species – tying what seems to be the all-time state high – was well beyond expectations while at the same time setting higher bar that’s clearly attainable in future years.

As it was my second year as compiler, doing my best to recruit observers as much as possible, the showing of 103 participants (98 in the field and five feeder watchers) was a bit below last year’s 117, even if well above the long-term average and miles ahead of any other Arizona CBC. It looked like many CBCs had fewer participants than normal this year, but you wouldn’t know from our species total that we had fewer than last year. So just imagine what the potential is, given maybe 10-15 more skilled birders, 20 more pairs of eyes of any skill level, and another 20-30 feeder watchers, where surely some oddities are going unreported. I do expect that we’ll have more and more in future years, and all participants are welcome to help in future recruiting efforts.

Species seen within three days either side of the CBC day were: a fly-by Neotropic Cormorant photographed a couple days before the count (their numbers begin to increase only in early January), Violet-crowned Hummingbird (at the Birky feeder up until 3 days before the CBC), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Cassin’s Vireo, Western Tanager (a new species for the master list, along the Santa Cruz River), Swamp Sparrow, and American Goldfinch. Seen just one day before count-week began was a Gray Flycatcher, and a few rarities found well before and after the count may have also been in the circle on count day, including Eastern Phoebe, Northern Parula, Black-and-white Warbler, Harris’s Sparrow, and Dickcissel. And let's not forget what must the most difficult bird to detect that is most certainly in the circle every year: Common Poorwill. That species is known to hibernate, apparently doesn't become active until late January, and there are only 3 CBC records out of the past 42 years. Most years we don't even try, but this year I was up at Finger Rock Canyon shortly after midnight at the start of the day, and after the countdown Larry Liese drove up Tumamoc Hill for another attempt. We'll keep trying for that one in future years. Combine more observers with a good year for northern things that we missed but show up from time-to-time (Common Goldeneye, Lark Bunting, Snow and Canada Goose, Pine Siskin, Red Crossbill, Cassin’s Finch), and it’s clear that 170 or more is a distinctive possibility for this rich CBC circle.

We had several staked-out rarities, some of which were local “megas” – first count-records of Red-shouldered Hawk, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Black Scoter top the list, the latter being the most unexpected from a historical perspective (but present since November 22 and seen by dozens of birders, so not a surprise on count day). The others were three Greater White-fronted Geese at Arthur Pack Golf Course, a Broad-tailed Hummingbird returning for a 3^rd year to a West University private yard (and a second in the Catalina Foothills), Lewis’s Woodpecker at Reid Park, Greater Pewee at Evergreen Cemetery, Cassin’s Kingbird at Reid Park (plus a surprise bird in the NE section of the circle), Yellow Warbler (one on the lower Santa Cruz and one at Fort Lowell Park), Townsend’s Warbler (one staked out at Winterhaven a couple days before the CBC), Wilson’s Warbler (the Roger Road WRF stakeout supplemented by a good find in the El Encanto neighborhood), Summer Tanager (only one at Reid Park a poor showing after last year’s record number), and a Bullock’s Oriole (one adult male returning to a feeder in Oro Valley, with details provided by supplemental birders).

Surprises help make the CBC such a fun event. The award for most unexpected rarity goes to the Palm Warbler that appeared just upstream from the Roger Road WRF, and what makes it even more surprising is that it was seen flying off (after good views and even a photo by several very good observers), never to be seen again. Slightly less astounding but still exciting rarities were: two Ring-billed Gulls (one seen by the same team as the Palm Warbler, and another flying along the dry Rillito River several miles upstream – and described to be of a different plumage, so clearly a second individual); a bright male Pine Warbler at the Tucson Country Club golf course (the dull stake-out female was missed at Reid Park, despite being seen the day before and after the CBC – missed not only by the team covering that area but also by many other birders who were coincidentally looking for it that same day); a Magnificent Hummingbird at a feeder near Ventana Canyon; an Empidonax flycatcher on the Pusch Peak Trail; a Barn Swallow at the Silverbell recharge basins; and single Mountain Bluebirds at Reid Park and Evergreen Cemetery. Three other notable species are rare birds for our circle because they occur occasionally only at the very highest elevations where there are bits of habitat which have not been covered well since the 1970’s: Steller’s Jay, Juniper Titmouse, and Townsend’s Solitaire. So many thanks go to Scott and John who made the hike all the way up to Mount Kimball, an elevation change equivalent to hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back.

We had new or tied record high counts for ten species. Some of these might represent just an odd year, where concentrations just happened to cross paths with CBC counters or reflect what was just a good breeding season farther north, such as American Wigeon, Hooded Merganser, Great Egret, Sharp-shinned Hawk, and Marsh Wren. Who knows why we tallied so many Common Ravens, but the ones here are not known to migrate, nor has anyone commented on a growing population. Not so with Eurasian Collared-Dove, which has been increasing greatly since the first arrived here just a few years ago; Broad-billed Hummingbird which continues to increase year after year; and Vermilion Flycatcher, whose rocketing population is a mystery and a delight. The tied number of four Virginia Rails will surely be outdone in the future, as we discovered the potential of Sweetwater Wetlands by visiting it at night after the countdown; when we had tallied none during the day, a late-night bike ride by the compiler to add just one more species to the count showed that they were much more responsive to playback after dark, as were the Soras. We had historically high counts of another 36 species (ranking among the top five in the past 42 years), but many, if not all of these merely reflect the large number of observers we had this year.

Low counts were notable among many species, representing more noticeable long- and short-term trends than most of the high count species. Those species with possibly meaningless low numbers (perhaps a poor breeding season farther north just this year, or a movable winter population that occurred somewhere outside our CBC circle) were Redhead (the odd one out, as almost all other waterfowl species had higher than usual counts), Least Sandpiper, Brewer’s Sparrow, Brewer’s Blackbird, and Brown-headed Cowbird. But the non-migratory species we should be keeping an eye on for their low numbers are Harris’s Hawk, Inca Dove (whose population has crashed inexplicably in the past 15 years), Gilded Flicker, Loggerhead Shrike, Cactus Wren, Crissal Thrasher (a difficult species to detect in any event, a real decline for this one is hard to confirm), Canyon Towhee, and Black-throated Sparrow.

Thank you everyone for helping to make this such a great and meaningful CBC.

The 2014 Tucson Valley Christmas Bird Count will be held on Sunday, December 14.