Each December, birders come together for the longest-running citizen science project in the US: the Christmas Bird Count. The national effort is run by National Audubon Society, but there are thousands of counts done throughout the country, each coordinated by local birders. In the Madison-area, the count has been coordinated by Madison Audubon since 2017 (with many other coordinators before!), and put on with help from over 100 volunteers each year.

The Madison-area includes Madison and many of its suburbs, including Fitchburg, McFarland, Monona, and Middleton. There is a lot of great habitat within the circle, thanks to the abundance lakes, rivers, wetlands, natural areas, city and county parks, and the many backyards hosting bird feeders. The area is split up among many volunteers, who head out and count up how many of which species they see in one single day.

This year, that day was Saturday, December 17. It was cloudy, cool (about 25), and a bit windy, making it less than pleasant weather conditions but resulting in great bird sightings! At the end of the day, many of us gathered together to celebrate a great day of birding, count up how many species we found, and share stories of memorable parts of the day.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the event, we couldn’t do this without you and your dedication!

Written by Brenna Marsicek, Madison Audubon director of communications and outreach & Madison-area CBC coordinator

Cover photo by Arlene Koziol

Christmas Bird Count volunteers birding at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton. *Photo by Amy Alstad*

2022 Madison-area Christmas Bird Count results

Summary
98 species (breaking our record from 2017 and 2020 of 97 species!)
Number of individual birds: 43,783
Number of field volunteers: 196
Number of feeder watchers: 26
Number of volunteer hours spent counting birds in 1 day: 397.6

Greater White-fronted Goose: 12
Snow Goose: 2
Cackling Goose: 52
Canada Goose: 14,724
Trumpeter Swan: 28
Tundra Swan: 1,373
Duck spp. 55
Wood Duck: 3
Gadwall: 123
American Widgeon: 2
American Black Duck: 16
Mallard: 2,381
Northern Shoveler: 484
Northern Pintail: 2
Green-winged Teal: 17
Canvasback: 256
Redhead: 202
Ring-necked Duck: 72
Lesser Scau: 231
Long-tailed Duck: 1
Bufflehead: 1,157
Common Goldeneye: 2,095
Hooded Merganser: 96
Common Merganser: 236
Red-breasted Merganser: 46
Ruddy Duck: 46
Wild Turkey: 418
Pied-billed Grebe: 2
Red-necked Grebe: 1
Great Blue Heron: 3
Northern Harrier: 17
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 4
Cooper’s Haw: 25
Bald Eagle: 52
Red-tailed Hawk: 104
Rough-legged Hawk: 12
American Coot: 1,508
Sandhill Crane: 855
Wilson’s Snipe: 1
Gull spp.: 185
Ring-billed Gull: 1,391
Herring Gull: 973
Iceland Gull: 3
Lesser Black-backed Gull: 1
Glaucous Gull: 1
Rock Pidgeon: 264
Mourning Dove: 710
Eastern Screech Owl: 3
Great Horned Owl: 17
Barred Owl: 11
Northern Saw-whet Owl: 2
Belted Kingfisher: 11

Red-headed Woodpecker: 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker: 302
Downy Woodpecker: 379
Hairy Woodpecker: 123
Northern Flicker: 17
Pileated Woodpecker: 2
American Kestre: 4
Merlin: 1
Peregrine Falcon: 1
Northern Shrike: 4
Blue Jay: 319
American Crow: 682
Horned Lark: 47
Black-capped Chickadee: 1,145
Tufted Titmouse: 57
Red-breasted Nuthatch: 28
White-breasted Nuthatch: 374
Brown Creeper: 55
Winter Wren: 1
Carolina Wren: 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet: 5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: 1
Eastern Bluebird: 3
Hermit Thrush: 1
American Robin: 479
European Starling: 2,581
Cedar Waxwing: 299
Lapland Longspur: 5
Snow Bunting: 27
American Tree Sparrow: 788
Field Sparrow: 1
Fox Sparrow: 9
Dark-eyed Junco: 2,297
White-crowned Sparrow: 3
White-throated Sparrow: 13
Song Sparrow: 31
Swamp Sparrow: 8
Eastern Towhee: 1
Northern Cardinal: 800
Red-winged Blackbird: 9
Rusty Blackbird: 4
Brown-headed Cowbird: 1
House Finch: 1,034
Purple Finch: 5
Common Redpoll: 6
Pine Siskin: 9
American Goldfinch: 696
House Sparrow: 3,165