Christmas Bird Count 2023 (official count day was December 15, 2023)
Overall, this year's CBC (hosted by the Tahoe Institute for Natural Science) was pretty quiet. The air was still and it seemed like I could hear for miles around, but I seldom heard birds! Fortunately there wasn't too much snow, which made for easy travel compared to last year where there was already multiple feet of snow on the ground. Everyone was able to just walk around this year with sturdy boots. Parking was easy, too :)
I covered the south half of Washoe Meadows State Park in the morning. And then met with my friend, Maria, for an afternoon session through the Angora Burn area via the Gunmount Trail (Angora Creek/Lake Tahoe BLVD - Nez Perce FS Gate turnaround - exited via Wintoon FS Gate. Total hiking mileage was 7.05 miles over approximately 5 hours, with minimal driving for shuttling purposes in the burn area.
My total count (in no particular order):
• Mountain Chickadee - 31
• Steller's Jay - 4
• Mallard - 2
• Golden-crowned Kinglet - 7
• Red Crossbill - 4
• American Dipper - 2 (my highlight for the day)
• Raven - 1
• White-breasted Nuthatch - 8
• Red-breasted Nuthatch - 4
• Brown Creeper - 3
• Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) - 6
• Bushtit - 6
• Red-tailed Hawk - 1
• Northern Flicker - 1
Updated 12/17/23 - Two additional species for the week (Williamson's Sapsucker and Hairy Woodpecker)
The unofficial species count that we determined during the follow-up dinner party last night was 78 unique species, which is within the normal species range for the Tahoe CBC. However, the overall numbers count was way low compared to past years. Nobody has any real insight as to why the numbers were so low this year. The weather has been very favorable, so that doesn't really seem to be a factor.
The two species highlights were the observations of one American Goshawk (Geoff H.) and one Sora (Will R.).
Updated 12/20/23 - Here's a YouTube video that I created about the day's experience titled "Birds of Lake Tahoe: Christmas Bird Count 2023 aka Participating in Citizen Science at Lake Tahoe!" ( https://youtu.be/Qc0hxiMEG8U )
Observations
Photos / Sounds
What
American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus)Observer
jaredmanninenDescription
Christmas Bird Count 2023
These two appeared to be together: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/194107028
Photos / Sounds
What
American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus)Observer
jaredmanninenDescription
Christmas Bird Count 2023
These two appeared to be together: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/194107027
Photos / Sounds
What
Brown Creeper (Certhia americana)Observer
jaredmanninenDescription
Christmas Bird Count 2023
Photos / Sounds
What
Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa)Observer
jaredmanninenDescription
Christmas Bird Count 2023
Photos / Sounds
What
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)Observer
jaredmanninenDescription
Christmas Bird Count 2023
Photos / Sounds
What
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)Observer
jaredmanninenDescription
Christmas Bird Count 2023
Photos / Sounds
What
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)Observer
jaredmanninenDescription
Christmas Bird Count 2023
Photos / Sounds
What
Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus)Observer
jaredmanninenDescription
Christmas Bird Count 2023 (species week).
Photos / Sounds
What
Williamson's Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus)Observer
jaredmanninenDescription
In the field, I actually thought this was a juvenile because the skies were so dark and overcast that I couldn't see either the yellow belly/breast or red on the throat.
Christmas Bird Count 2023 (species week).
Comments
Thank you for sharing how your observations in your assigned area. We experienced the same eerie quietness and reduced number of both songbirds and waterfowl in the Tahoe Keys and nearby marsh. Both the weather and walking conditions couldn't have been better though. The lake was smooth as glass, and without any wind we could hear birds well (the few that were calling).
We all missed you last night, but you were definitely there in spirit (based on your counts). You found some great birds out there, yesterday! It was a great turnout, too, with well over 20 people attending. And lots of pizza! haha :)
Probably in the next couple weeks, I'm going to go and look for Geoff's (and Sue's!) Goshawk. I was hiking past that general area with my partner yesterday (Geoff headed south from that location, whereas I was looping around to the north), and I mentioned to her that that specific location seemed like it should have a Goshawk in it. Sure enough!
Hope you guys are well, and I hope you have a great trip!
Thanks Jared. I hope you find and get photos of the Goshawk. That's so cool that Geoff saw it on CBC!
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