Santa Barbara birders have done it again! On January 2, 2010, we had great weather, great participation, and great birds - a recipe for a hugely successful Christmas Bird Count! A record high count of 223 participants in 78 groups combed the territory within our Count Circle, which is centered at the intersection of San Marcos Pass and Foothill Road.

The result was a total of 216 different species, enough to put us ahead of all other California Christmas Bird Counts and to tie with one of the big, new Texas Counts: Guadalupe Delta/MacFadden Ranch (they had rain!).

Wonderful birds were tallied, some of which had been "staked out" beforehand, and some of which were found new on Count Day. In the top tier were the real goodies: a Long-tailed Duck at the harbor, a Red Knot at Isla Vista Beach, a Broad-billed Hummingbird at a private feeder, a Broad-tailed Hummingbird at Fairview Gardens, an Eastern Phoebe near Ocean Meadows Golf Course, two Lewis's Woodpeckers, a Plumbeous Vireo, and a returning Grace's Warbler back for its second winter.

Each Count has its strengths and weaknesses, and this year's was a stand-out for orioles. What a show! Three Orchard Orioles, two Hoodeds, 10 Bullock's, 2 Baltimores, and a Scott's made for great birdfinding. There were lots of hummingbirds, including 19 male Allen's, 33 selasphorus (sp.), and a rare Rufous Hummingbird.

On the other hand, numbers of montane species were particularly low. A few Mountain Chickadees, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, and a couple of Golen-crowned Kinglets were just about all, along with one Townsend's Soitaire on East Camino Cielo. Only ONE Pine Siskin in Mission Canyon is certainly a lucky, lucky break - remembering how in some years siskins can be seen at every feeder!

The bigger the CBC grows, the more we need everyone's help. I want to thank Santa Barbara Audubon for their constant support and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History for waiving the fee for Fleischmann auditorium. The Compilation Committee makes a huge difference when we crunch the numbers, and this year it was better than ever. Thanks to Dave Compton, Rebecca Coulter, Jared Dawson, Patrick McNulty, Joan Murdoch and Bill Pollock without which we could never manage a Count of this complexity. Bill Pollock has written a special computer database program for the Count, which has saved hours and hours of our time.

Let's hope the bird numbers can keep up with the numbers of birders as we continue our great reputation as one of the birdiest places in the country!

Additional Count Week Sightings