by Meru S.
Mt. Diablo Audubon Society (MDAS) announced the results of the 2022 Central and East Contra Costa County Christmas Bird Count on their Facebook page on January 16th, 2023. A total of 160 bird species were seen in Central County, one less than 2020’s record of 161. In East County, a total of 148 species were seen.
Every year MDAS participates in the National Audubon Christmas Bird Count. According to MDAS, this event has been occurring annually since 1900 and is the longest-running community science project in the world! Two Counts are conducted each year in Contra Costa County, one in Central County, and one in East County. MDAS sponsors both of these events.
The story behind the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) – In 1900, Frank M. Chapman, an Audubon Society member, started the first CBC as an alternative to the old traditional Christmas ‘Side Hunt’ in which hunters competed against each other to kill as many birds and mammals as possible. The data collected on the Bird Counts (which take place all across the U.S. between December 14th and January 5th) is used to monitor the population of the birds throughout North America.
My family and I participated in the Count led by East Bay Regional Parks for Central County at the Thurgood Marshall Regional Park on December 17th, 2022. The morning was crisp, cold, and clear when the walk began at 7:30 a.m. A naturalist from East Bay Regional Parks led and guided the group of around fifteen participants. We used birding scopes and binoculars to identify the different species, and kept track of the numbers. We were also given a checklist of species seen in Counts of previous years. We walked along the trails for about seven miles round-trip observing bird sightings. The event lasted for five hours.
Some of the birds we saw were:
Acorn Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Black Phoebe
Lewis’s Woodpecker
Loggerhead Shrike
Mountain Bluebird
Mourning Dove
Northern Flicker
Nuttall’s Woodpecker
Pipit
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-winged Blackbird
Say’s Phoebe
A photograph of a Lewis’s Woodpecker that we took through a birding scope.
A sketch of a Nuttall’s Woodpecker from my nature journal.
The 2023 Central County Christmas Bird Count is tentatively scheduled for December 16th. The Count for East County is tentatively scheduled for December 20th. For further information on these and other events, please visit: Mt. Diablo Audubon Society.
The Lighthouse 