Aspen Audubon Christmas Bird Count 12/15/24

The annual Aspen Audubon CBC brings together the local birding community like no other event! It is fun, exciting, and educational to participate in this special count day, which is part of the longest-running citizen science program in the world. The 18 participants in Aspen’s CBC were part of some 80,000 total volunteers who will be censusing birds in the Western Hemisphere during this year’s effort, the 125th Christmas Bird Count. Each year, the CBC takes place during a window of time between December 14th and January 5th. ACES hosted the Aspen count on December 15th, coordinating 18 volunteers to record the birds within our count’s geographic scope, a 15-mile diameter circle with its center point at Cozy Point Ranch, near the intersection of Highway 82 and Brush Creek Road.

Four parties covered four different routes within the circle, with the goal of recording every bird observed. One party did a brief feeder watch, and the patrol at Snowmass ski area watched for ptarmigans during their morning snow safety work. A total of 45 species (884 individual birds) were recorded, coming very close to the 49 species recorded last year. After a briefing at Hallam Lake over coffee and pumpkin bread to cover methodology, feeder locations, and maps, the four parties set out on their routes. At noon, everyone gathered at Woody Creek Tavern for lunch to warm up and fuel up for more afternoon birding out in the field. We compared sightings and stories and strategized to try to find remaining target species in the afternoon.

Through the day, parties texted each other with exciting news: a northern pygmy owl seen by the blue group, a sharp-shinned hawk observed by the green group, and a yellow-headed blackbird found by the yellow group! New birders gained great experience alongside veteran birders and out-of-town birders connected with local birders; life-birds were seen and new friends were made! There’s nothing like the CBC to get us out for a full day, often finding unexpected birds in unexpected places: a robin at the icy river’s edge, crossbills at the Airport Business Center, and brown creepers in downtown Aspen.

Our CBC is also very fortunate to have the enthusiastic participation of the Snowmass Snow Safety team. The Aspen CBC circle encompasses all of the extensive prime ptarmigan habitat in the Cirque area at the top of Snowmass Ski Area, and with these staff members doing rounds through this terrain on a daily basis, they are the perfect resource to recruit to record the ptarmigans they see on count day (which was 3 this year!). This group may very well be the only ski patrol in the nation that participates in the CBC! Two birders from the green route, which focuses on the Snowmass Village region, also skinned up to Sam’s Knob to record birds at the feeders there, a regular site for brown-capped rosy-finches – and they found seven of these highly specialized, high-elevation, endemic finches!

Efforts such as ours with this year’s local CBC yield valuable data, and the cumulative contributions to the CBC over the past 125 years have built a uniquely relevant “big data” set, which scientists around the world access to study trends in avian population dynamics, range changes, species richness and abundance throughout the western hemisphere. Overall, trends in general bird abundance show a continuing decline in recent decades, despite an increase in effort and geographic scope with more volunteers and new CBC circles added each year. This concerning news is balanced in part by the inspiration and awareness brought about by the CBC as a citizen event in which anyone and everyone is welcome to participate, learn, and be inspired. During this year’s briefing, we highlighted “bird-friendly coffee” (which was served at ACES) as one of the most effective ways people can make a big difference for birds. Learn about bird-friendly coffee here, and consider giving it as an inspiring, educational, and practical gift this holiday season!

More winter birding opportunities are coming up this season. Watch ACES website and join our birding email list to get updates on seasonal field trips and regular outings at Hallam Lake. Join us for more great birding this winter!

(cw = “Count Week” species – these species were observed during the 3 days prior and after the CBC, but not on the actual CBC day)

78 Mallard

3 Ring-necked Duck

3 White-tailed Ptarmigan

7 Wild Turkey

1 Cooper’s Hawk

1 Sharp-shinned Hawk

9 Red-tailed Hawk

14 Bald Eagle

1 Golden Eagle

1 Wilson’s Snipe

31 Rock Pigeon

cw Eurasian Collared-Dove

1 Northern Pygmy Owl

3 Belted Kingfisher

4 Downy Woodpecker

4 Hairy Woodpecker

1 Northern Flicker

1 Canada Jay

23 Steller’s Jay

12 Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay

86 Black-billed Magpie

218 American Crow

41 Common Raven

83 Black-capped Chickadee

53 Mountain Chickadee

1 Red-breasted Nuthatch

7 White-breasted Nuthatch

3 Pygmy Nuthatch

4 Brown Creeper

14 American Dipper

1 American Robin

5 Townsend’s Solitaire

11 European Starling

1 Green-tailed Towhee

1 Song Sparrow

5 Dark-eyed Junco (1 Pink-sided)

15 Red-winged Blackbird

1 Yellow-headed Blackbird

7 Brown-capped Rosy-Finch

1 Pine Siskin

45 House Finch

8 Evening Grosbeak

cw Red Crossbill

cw Pine Grosbeak

71 House Sparrow