This northern flicker was spotted during this year’s annual Christmas Bird Count.
The 32nd annual Twisp Christmas Bird Count was held on Dec. 29. It was an overcast day with relatively mild temperatures and no wind, rain or snow. The count is part of the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, a 120-year-old tradition of counting birds during the holiday season in an effort to track bird population trends throughout the Americas.
Seventy-three species were observed within a 7.5-mile radius of Twisp during the count. Local wildlife biologist Julie Hovis compiled the results for this year’s count and was pleased that all 12 routes were covered for the first time in recent years.
“We had a record number of participants (56) and a record number of individual birds observed (5,615),” Hovis said. “And a new species, northern shoveler, was seen for the first time in the history of the count.”
The most numerous species observed during the count were California quail (975), wild turkey (465), and common raven (314). Other species with notably high numbers were black-capped chickadee (310), bald eagle (112) and northern flicker (129). The complete list of species and numbers for this year:
|
Species |
# |
|
Tundra Swan |
2 |
|
Gadwall |
4 |
|
American Wigeon |
36 |
|
Mallard |
235 |
|
Northern Shoveler |
1 |
|
Green-winged Teal |
39 |
|
Ring-necked Duck |
7 |
|
Greater Scaup |
1 |
|
Lesser Scaup |
30 |
|
Bufflehead |
39 |
|
Common Goldeneye |
262 |
|
Barrow’s Goldeneye |
55 |
|
Hooded Merganser |
11 |
|
Common Merganser |
58 |
|
California Quail |
975 |
|
Chukar |
12 |
|
Gray Partridge |
70 |
|
Ruffed Grouse |
1 |
|
Wild Turkey |
465 |
|
Rock Pigeon |
10 |
|
Eurasian Collared-Dove |
76 |
|
Mourning Dove |
146 |
|
Great Blue Heron |
1 |
|
Golden Eagle |
4 |
|
Northern Harrier |
8 |
|
Cooper’s Hawk |
7 |
|
unknown accipiter |
1 |
|
Bald Eagle |
112 |
|
unknown bald or golden eagle |
3 |
|
Red-tailed Hawk |
97 |
|
Rough-legged Hawk |
12 |
|
unknown hawk |
1 |
|
Western Screech-Owl |
9 |
|
Northern Pygmy-Owl |
1 |
|
Belted Kingfisher |
11 |
|
Downy Woodpecker |
54 |
|
Hairy Woodpecker |
25 |
|
White-headed Woodpecker |
5 |
|
Northern Flicker (red-shafted) |
129 |
|
Pileated Woodpecker |
3 |
|
unknown woodpecker |
2 |
|
American Kestrel |
19 |
|
Northern Shrike |
13 |
|
Steller’s Jay |
32 |
|
Clark’s Nutcracker |
7 |
|
Black-billed Magpie |
185 |
|
American Crow |
19 |
|
Common Raven |
314 |
|
Black-capped Chickadee |
310 |
|
Mountain Chickadee |
39 |
|
unknown chickadee |
4 |
|
Red-breasted Nuthatch |
41 |
|
White-breasted Nuthatch |
19 |
|
Pygmy Nuthatch |
30 |
|
unknown nuthatch |
1 |
|
Brown Creeper |
10 |
|
American Dipper |
14 |
|
Golden-crowned Kinglet |
20 |
|
Townsend’s Solitaire |
1 |
|
American Robin |
2 |
|
European Starling |
121 |
|
Cedar Waxwing |
3 |
|
House Sparrow |
185 |
|
Evening Grosbeak |
8 |
|
Pine Grosbeak |
34 |
|
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch |
100 |
|
House Finch |
234 |
|
Purple Finch |
2 |
|
Red Crossbill |
13 |
|
Pine Siskin |
10 |
|
American Goldfinch |
285 |
|
Spotted Towhee |
8 |
|
American Tree Sparrow |
2 |
|
Song Sparrow |
49 |
|
Lincoln’s sparrow |
1 |
|
White-crowned Sparrow |
32 |
|
Golden-crowned Sparrow |
1 |
|
Dark-eyed Junco |
283 |
|
Red-winged Blackbird |
144 |
