Newsletter of the Columbia Audubon Society | January 2023 | Volume 65, Number 5
In this issue:
by Data collected by John Besser
The final tally for the 2022 Christmas Bird Count is published below. Special thanks to John Besser for working through all the eBird reports to pull this information together!
COLUMBIA CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT — DECEMBER 17 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||
TALLY SHEET — ALL BIRDS | ||||||||||||||||||
SPECIES | Taxon Total: | |||||||||||||||||
Snow Goose | 751 | |||||||||||||||||
Ross’s Goose | 20 | |||||||||||||||||
Greater White-fronted Goose | 151 | |||||||||||||||||
Canada Goose | 2521 | |||||||||||||||||
Northern Shoveler | 95 | |||||||||||||||||
Gadwall | 236 | |||||||||||||||||
American Wigeon | 16 | |||||||||||||||||
Mallard | 1896 | |||||||||||||||||
Northern Pintail | 45 | |||||||||||||||||
Green-winged Teal | 965 | |||||||||||||||||
Redhead | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Lesser Scaup | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Ruddy Duck | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Wild Turkey | 20 | |||||||||||||||||
Pied-billed Grebe | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) | 706 | |||||||||||||||||
Eurasian Collared-Dove | 6 | |||||||||||||||||
Mourning Dove | 369 | |||||||||||||||||
American Coot | 59 | |||||||||||||||||
Killdeer | 16 | |||||||||||||||||
Wilson’s Snipe | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Ring-billed Gull | 35 | |||||||||||||||||
Great Blue Heron | 6 | |||||||||||||||||
Black Vulture | 10 | |||||||||||||||||
Turkey Vulture | 112 | |||||||||||||||||
Northern Harrier | 6 | |||||||||||||||||
Sharp-shinned Hawk | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Cooper’s Hawk | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
Bald Eagle | 52 | |||||||||||||||||
Red-shouldered Hawk | 28 | |||||||||||||||||
Red-tailed Hawk | 46 | |||||||||||||||||
Buteo sp. | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
hawk sp | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
eagle sp. | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Eastern Screech-Owl | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
Great Horned Owl | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
Barred Owl | 8 | |||||||||||||||||
Belted Kingfisher | 7 | |||||||||||||||||
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | 9 | |||||||||||||||||
Red-headed Woodpecker | 33 | |||||||||||||||||
Red-bellied Woodpecker | 214 | |||||||||||||||||
Downy Woodpecker | 160 | |||||||||||||||||
Hairy Woodpecker | 16 | |||||||||||||||||
Pileated Woodpecker | 38 | |||||||||||||||||
Northern Flicker | 98 | |||||||||||||||||
American Kestrel | 17 | |||||||||||||||||
Merlin | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
Blue Jay | 387 | |||||||||||||||||
American Crow | 339 | |||||||||||||||||
Black-capped Chickadee | 311 | |||||||||||||||||
Tufted Titmouse | 276 | |||||||||||||||||
Horned Lark | 39 | |||||||||||||||||
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
Golden-crowned Kinglet | 15 | |||||||||||||||||
Red-breasted Nuthatch | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
White-breasted Nuthatch | 118 | |||||||||||||||||
Brown Creeper | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
Winter Wren | 7 | |||||||||||||||||
Marsh Wren | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Carolina Wren | 58 | |||||||||||||||||
European Starling | 1995 | |||||||||||||||||
Northern Mockingbird | 12 | |||||||||||||||||
Eastern Bluebird | 224 | |||||||||||||||||
Hermit Thrush | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
American Robin | 127 | |||||||||||||||||
Cedar Waxwing | 220 | |||||||||||||||||
House Sparrow | 277 | |||||||||||||||||
House Finch | 194 | |||||||||||||||||
Purple Finch | 51 | |||||||||||||||||
American Goldfinch | 390 | |||||||||||||||||
Lapland Longspur | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
Field Sparrow | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
American Tree Sparrow | 76 | |||||||||||||||||
Fox Sparrow | 9 | |||||||||||||||||
Dark-eyed Junco | 1203 | |||||||||||||||||
White-crowned Sparrow | 59 | |||||||||||||||||
Harris’s Sparrow | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
White-throated Sparrow | 660 | |||||||||||||||||
Savannah Sparrow | 22 | |||||||||||||||||
Song Sparrow | 88 | |||||||||||||||||
Swamp Sparrow | 35 | |||||||||||||||||
Eastern Towhee | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Western Meadowlark | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Eastern Meadowlark | 51 | |||||||||||||||||
Western/Eastern Meadowlark | 20 | |||||||||||||||||
Red-winged Blackbird | 2215 | |||||||||||||||||
Common Grackle | 23 | |||||||||||||||||
blackbird sp. | 610 | |||||||||||||||||
Yellow-rumped Warbler | 14 | |||||||||||||||||
Northern Cardinal | 650 | |||||||||||||||||
0 | ||||||||||||||||||
Area Total: | 19602 |
by Lori Turner, President
Another year has passed and we can now celebrate the new year. We have so many things to be thankful for – one is being able to assemble for the Chili Supper after a very cold, windy Christmas Bird Count. This year’s CBC fell on December 17th. There are so many people that make the CBC and Chili Supper a success and I want to give a shout out to a few. Lottie Bushmann and Allison Vaughn are the co-chairs for our CBC on top of all the other things they do to help CAS – thank you! Judy Lincoln was in charge of the Chili Supper and I want to thank her for organizing the pot luck that we haven’t been able to partake in since 2019 – it was nice to have a warm dinner after spending a day outside in the frigid 20 + MPH winds. I have to admit, I wasn’t able to bird during the CBC so I wasn’t a person out there working hard to identify every bird that they could see in the name of science.
Here’s the stats from the CBC:
Total Species seen: 85
Count week species: 3
Total birds seen: 19,602
Top 5 total species counted:
2,521 – Canada Goose
2,215 – Red-winged Blackbird
1,995—European Starling
1,896 – Mallard
1,203 – Dark-eyed Junco
The Christmas Bird Count couldn’t happen without the over 40 birders that went afield during a cold, wintery day to count as many birds as they could and for that we thank you! Thanks for making Columbia Missouri’s 60th annual CBC a successful count!
by Lori Turner, President
It is hard to put into words what it means to the CAS board that so many members, neighbors, friends and family members donated during this holiday season to help us reach our goal of raising $10,000. THANK YOU, THANK YOU for taking the time out of your busy schedule during the most hectic time of the year to donate. Thank you to the over 100 people that donated to help support our mission of, “Preserving the natural world and its ecosystems, focusing on birds and other wildlife, and the earth’s biological diversity through education, environmental study and habitat restoration and protection.”
We raised $11,712 through our CoMoGives page. We also had over $3,700 worth of donations that was either in check form or donations made through our website.
153 community nonprofit organizations participated in CoMoGives in 2022 and CAS ranked 53rd overall for donations! 2022 was the 8th year CAS has participated in CoMoGives.
We’d like to give a big thank you to Songbird Station and their store manager, Becky Toellner, for allowing CAS to display its CoMoGives poster and postcards at the store. We’d also like to thank Peace Nook for allowing us to display our postcards there too.
Thank you to the 2022 CoMoGives committee: Lori Turner, Allison Vaughn, Kevin Wehner – with special assistance from John Besser, Lottie Bushmann, Bill Mees, Doug Miller and Lisa Schenker.
Please consider volunteering to chair the 2023 CoMoGives Committee. This is the one and only fundraiser for CAS and is critical to our continued success. It is one of the most rewarding committees you can chair on the CAS board.
by Allison Vaughn
Join the Missouri River Bird Observatory this winter for a free webinar series about birds. The flyer below lists the full schedule. Registration and events in January can be found here
by Eric and Joanna Reuter
We’re excited to take on the role of field trip co-coordinators for CAS and have a lot of ideas for fun and diverse events. Here’s a brief update on what’s happened recently, what’s upcoming, and how CAS members can get involved.
Future trips (see CAS website for full details) include a heron rookery count at Gans Creek, the annual Twilight Timberdoodle Trek at Rocky Fork Lakes, a migrants and wildflowers walk at Wild Haven, and a Whip-poor-wills and Chuck-wills-widows walk at Rocky Fork Lakes.
We have many more ideas for future trips, but our planning would benefit from knowing what is of interest to you. Beginner-focused, and/or advanced? Targeted at certain species, or certain habitats (woodland, grassland, wetland, etc.)? Skills-focused (such as birding by ear)? Local vs. further afield? Weekday vs. weekend? Morning vs. afternoon? Full day vs. an hour or two? Planned well in advance vs. announced ~6 days out when weather forecasts are more reliable?
One specific idea we have is to host a series of “Little Listens” (a play on the more traditional Big Sits) to encourage new (or seasoned) birders to really focus on practicing listening skills and to learn to identify birds by sound during the arc of spring migration. Tell us if this is something you’d like to see happen, because we’re most likely to pursue this if it seems that there is in fact interest.
We also need volunteers to lead field trips. This does not require any level of birding experience, simply a commitment to take the lead in making sure a trip happens in an organized and safe manner. You can review the guidelines for field trip leaders we published on the CAS site when we last coordinated field trips back in 2019. Please contact us if you’d like to help out by leading a trip, whether you have a specific one in mind or are open to suggestions.
To get in touch regarding field trips, email literatehobo@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
by Judy Lincoln, Vice President
After the busy holiday season and Christmas Bird Count, we can slow down and pay attention to individual birds in their environment and their place in it. More than numbers on a list, we can come away with memorable insights and more understanding. Here’s a note from our hostess:
“Hey there, I’m Bridget Butler. I’ve been a naturalist for more than 20 years, playing match maker for the wildscape & the wonderful people who call Vermont their home.
MY Approach
My approach to birding is to tap into each person’s innate passion for nature through exploration and deep listening. I strive then to encourage folks to take that passion and turn it into action, paying it forward for the landscape they love & enjoy. Here’s a note from one of my students:
‘Your welcoming manner is the reason I have felt like I can “be a birder”. You have made me feel like it is okay to talk about what I am noticing about birds and not be perfect about it. It’s not about the answers, it’s about the questions. Just noticing and wondering is enough – and that freedom makes the topic accessible for me.’
— Sally K., Vermont
Participants must register in advance for the meeting in order to get an emailed link to join the meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYlduCtqTwiH9EOpN1Y7MGvdt4ReEpB4rCk
Hope you will join us from the comfort of your home to discover or expand on the delights of SLOW BIRDING.”
Columbia Audubon Society is supported in part by a generous contribution from
2010 Chapel Plaza Court, Suite C • Columbia, MO 65203 • 573-446-5941
February 3, 2023 | 8:00 AM
February 15, 2023 | 7:00 pm
March 3, 2023 | 8:00 AM
March 15, 2023 | 7:00 pm
Wednesday, March 15, 2023 | 8:00 a.m.
Tuesday, March 28, 2023 | 6:45 p.m.
April 7, 2023 | 8:00 AM
Saturday, April 29, 2023 | 8:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m.
May 5, 2023 | 8:00 AM
Thursday, May 18, 2023 | 7:30 p.m.