Winter brings a special kind of birding. Brisk temperatures, stillness and quiet, punctuations of calls and drummings of the hardiest of bird species…

This is Christmas Bird Count season.

Each December 14 through January 5, birders come together for the longest-running citizen science project in North America: the Christmas Bird Count, which started in 1900. 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 2022 alone, there were 2,625 Christmas Bird Counts completed with help from 79,005 people. That’s a lot of birds and birders!

In the Madison-area, the first Christmas Bird Count was done in 1907. That first year, one person found a total of 5 species: 1 Herring Gull, 4 Blue Jays, 2 chickadees, 2 Brown Creepers, and 7 Golden-crowned Kinglets.

Data from National Audubon Society’s historical Christmas Bird Count records for the Madison-area count. *Analyzed and displayed by Brenna Marsicek/BBA*

This year, on December 16, an incredible 228 birders turned out in the field and at their feeders to document the birds they saw and heard. To put that into context, last year for the 2022 Madison-area Christmas Bird Count, our 222 volunteers put us at the 14th highest number of participants out of all of the 2,625 counts!

Ok, so there are a lot of bird-lovers here. What did they see this year??

Scroll down to find out!

First, let’s talk about area.

The Madison-area CBC 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. Volunteers are assigned areas, and they fan out in search of birds, trying to cover as much area as possible without double-counting birds.

This year, the count was Saturday, December 16. It was cloudy, relatively balmy (44 degree high), and threatened rain all morning. Fortunately, most birders were able to complete their counts before it rained around noon. Forty-four degrees is pretty warm for mid-December, though the highest temp of a Madison-area CBC was 48 degree is 2006. High and low temps during CBC were systematically recorded beginning in 1962, and as the chart below shows, the trendline reveals the temp during CBC is slowy rising. Higher winter temperatures means the lakes remain open, which influences which birds we might find in the area.

At the end of the busy day of birding, 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.

Stories like…

Merlin (different one than seen on the count). *Photo by Mick Thompson*

“Just before 8 AM In the middle of area #15 (Whitney Way to Park St., between University Ave, and the SW bike trail) just west of the 2 big cemeteries, I noticed feathers descending from the top of a utility pole. I repositioned myself to gain a better vantage point and observed a raptor enthusiastically feeding on prey, probably a now-deceased junco. Through binoculars, I saw the small, hooked bill, subdued stripes on its tail and soft brown facial markings including a brown line extending from the eye to its throat. I identified it as Merlin. Apparently this was one of just 2 Merlins tallied for the Madison 2023 count. It had been over 30 years since I had last seen one during a Madison CBC. Interestingly, that sighting was from the same area and it was pointed out to me by legendary birder, Sam Robins.”
- Marty Evanson, area 15 captain

Barred Owl in flight (different one than seen on the count). *Photo by Matthew Paulson FCC*

“A surprise! In the Juniper woods on my property, I played call-back of a White-crowned Sparrow flock hoping to get replies from sparrows that are often in this area of the property. Instead, a Barred Owl came flying at eye-level straight toward me! I briefly thought it was going to hit or land on me. I leaned right just a bit and it veered off to the left when it was less than 10 feet from me. VERY exciting! Only the second one I've ever seen or heard here in 30 years.”
- Kathy Kershaw, area 5 (east side) participant

Red fox (different one than those seen on the count). *Photo by Monica Hall*

Jeffrey also saw two young foxes in broad daylight just hanging out in a park watching people and dogs go by!
-Heather Foxman, area 19 (west side) captain, referring to sighting by area 19 volunteer Jeffrey Schimpff

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

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

Cover photo: Red-bellied Woodpecker (photo by Kelly Colgan Azar).

BIPOC Birding Club participants survey area 3 (north side) for birds during the 2023 Madison-area Christmas Bird Count. *Photo by Jeff Galligan*

2023 Madison-area Christmas Bird Count results

Summary
94 species (93 species on Dec. 16; 1 additional count-week species)
Record count: 98 species in 2022
Number of individual birds: 45,943
Number of field volunteers: 199
Number of feeder watchers: 29
Number of volunteer hours spent counting birds in 1 day: 365

Snow Goose: 4
Ross’s Goose: 1 (rare! only the 2nd time observed on the Madison CBC)
Cackling Goose: 99
Canada Goose: 12,106
Trumpeter Swan: 3
Tundra Swan: 650
Duck spp. 5
Wood Duck: 6
Gadwall: 176
American Widgeon: 14
American Black Duck: 29
Mallard: 4,386
Northern Shoveler: 809
Northern Pintail: 2
Green-winged Teal: 24
Canvasback: 87
Redhead: 121
Ring-necked Duck: 56
Lesser Scaup: 7
Surf Scoter: 7 (rare! only the 4th time seen on the Madison CBC!)
White-winged Scoter: 6
Long-tailed Duck: 5
Bufflehead: 939
Common Goldeneye: 2,273
Hooded Merganser: 3
Common Merganser: 31
Red-breasted Merganser: 11
Ruddy Duck: 2
Wild Turkey: 424
Common Loon: 12
Horned Grebe: 4
Red-necked Grebe: 2 (rare! only the 6th time seen on the Madison CBC!)
Great Blue Heron: 3
Northern Harrier: 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 5
Cooper’s Hawk: 22
American Goshawk: 1
Bald Eagle: 29
Red-tailed Hawk: 92
Virginia Rail: 1
American Coot: 1,645
Sandhill Crane: 707
Gull spp.: 59
Ring-billed Gull: 2,476
Herring Gull: 2,250
Great Black-backed Gull: 1
Lesser Black-backed Gull: 4
Rock Pidgeon: 399

Mourning Dove: 861
Eastern Screech Owl: 1
Great Horned Owl: 15
Barred Owl: 7
Belted Kingfisher: 10
Red-bellied Woodpecker: 237
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker: 1
Downy Woodpecker: 320
Hairy Woodpecker: 158
Northern Flicker: 15
Pileated Woodpecker: 2
American Kestrel: 7
Merlin: 2
Eastern Phoebe: 1 (rare! only the 3rd time seen on the Madison CBC)
Northern Shrike: 6
Blue Jay: 258
American Crow: 496
Horned Lark: 2
Black-capped Chickadee: 1,046
Tufted Titmouse: 33
Red-breasted Nuthatch: 8
White-breasted Nuthatch: 490
Brown Creeper: 43
Winter Wren: 9
Carolina Wren: 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet: 23
American Robin: 259
Gray Catbird: 3
European Starling: 3,347
Cedar Waxwing: 231
Palm Warbler: 1 (rare! first time seen on the Madison CBC)
American Tree Sparrow: 622
Fox Sparrow: 3
Dark-eyed Junco: 1,377
White-crowned Sparrow: 8
White-throated Sparrow: 21
Song Sparrow: 34
Swamp Sparrow: 3
Eastern Towhee: 1
Northern Cardinal: 631
Red-winged Blackbird: 4
Brown-headed Cowbird: 3
House Finch: 834
Purple Finch: 1
Red Crossbill: count week
Pine Siskin: 176
American Goldfinch: 744
House Sparrow: 3,587