123rd Audubon Christmas Bird Count
Audubon Christmas Bird Count

123rd Annual Christmas Bird Count
Sunday, December 18, 2022 (Princeton Count)
Sunday, January 1, 2023 (Trenton Count)
*** WATCH THIS SPACE FOR UPDATES ***
The Princeton and Trenton Counts will still be held despite the COVID-19 pandemic. WCAS has been sponsoring the CBC for a number of years. This year, the compilers of the Princeton and Trenton Counts will run a COVID-19 safe and socially distanced CBC. Outdoor activities are generally considered to be safe and mask wearing will be optional. Participants can drive in their own car. If you are interested in learning about this event and participating, the requirements are a pair of binoculars and the ability to identify our local resident birds. Each group meets early in the day at an assigned location and records all birds seen and heard. This list is compiled, reported to the national database and posted on our website. We are looking for new “counters” that can commit to this one day a year to help collect data on our local bird populations. Please join us.
This year marks the 123rd anniversary of the first Christmas Bird Count, when 27 conservationists in 25 localities, led by ornithologist Frank Chapman, changed the course of history. On Christmas Day 1900, the group initiated an alternative to the traditional holiday ‘side hunt,’ in which teams competed to see which could shoot the most birds. Instead of hunting, the group counted the birds they saw and founded a century-old institution.
In the past over 50,000 volunteers from all 50 states, every Canadian province, parts of Central and South America, Bermuda, the West Indies, and Pacific islands have counted and recorded every individual bird and bird species encountered during one calendar day. Up to 1800 individual Christmas Bird Counts will be held during a two-and-a-half week period. Each count group has a designated circle 15 miles in diameter-about 177 square miles–where they try to cover as much ground as possible within a 24-hour calendar day.
Christmas Bird Count serves as an up-to-the-minute bird census. Counters catalogue every bird and bird species they see over one calendar day, from midnight to midnight. Growing in popularity since its inception, the count serves an important scientific function as well. Birds are one of the first groups of animals to be affected by environmental threats like pollution and habitat destruction, and CBC data provide indispensable information, not only on long-term health of bird populations, but also the status of the environment that birds share with all living things.
Apart from its attraction as a usually social, sporting, and competitive event, the annual count reveals interesting and scientifically useful information on the early-winter distribution patterns of various bird species and the over-all health of the environment.
The Christmas Bird Count is the longest running ornithological database. It continues to grow in importance as a means to monitor the status of resident and migratory bird populations across the western hemisphere. The CBC is 100% volunteer generated data that, over the years, has become a crucial part of the United States Government’s natural history monitoring database. Count data from 1900 to the present are currently available through BirdSource (www.birdsource.org), a cooperative project of the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.
For more information, contact Brad Merritt at 609-921-8964, or e-mail balmerritt@aol.com
Princeton CBC 2019 Results
Snow Goose | 4252 |
Cackling Goose | 1 |
Canada Goose | 11637 |
Mute Swan | 5 |
Wood Duck | 2 |
Gadwall | 14 |
American Wigeon | 14 |
American Black Duck | 37 |
Mallard | 309 |
Northern Pintail | 1 |
Ring-necked Duck | 39 |
Bufflehead | 11 |
Hooded Merganser | 34 |
Common Merganser | 365 |
Red-breasted Merganser | 1 |
Ruddy Duck | 110 |
duck sp. | 22 |
Ring-necked Pheasant | 6 |
Pied-billed Grebe | 3 |
Double-crested Cormorant | 5 |
Great Blue Heron (Blue form) | 30 |
Black Vulture | 256 |
Turkey Vulture | 573 |
Osprey | 1 |
Northern Harrier | 23 |
Sharp-shinned Hawk | 4 |
Cooper's Hawk | 15 |
Bald Eagle | 33 |
Red-shouldered Hawk | 9 |
Red-tailed Hawk | 74 |
Rough-legged Hawk | 1 |
Buteo sp. | 1 |
Killdeer | 8 |
Ring-billed Gull | 477 |
Herring Gull | 806 |
Lesser Black-backed Gull | 2 |
Great Black-backed Gull | 17 |
gull sp. | 2 |
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) | 205 |
Mourning Dove | 298 |
Eastern Screech-Owl | 5 |
Great Horned Owl | 4 |
Belted Kingfisher | 13 |
Red-headed Woodpecker | 5 |
Red-bellied Woodpecker | 236 |
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | 17 |
Downy Woodpecker | 106 |
Hairy Woodpecker | 26 |
Northern Flicker | 153 |
Pileated Woodpecker | 14 |
American Kestrel | 3 |
Merlin | 2 |
Eastern Phoebe | 1cw |
Blue Jay | 505 |
American Crow | 218 |
Fish Crow | 123 |
crow sp. | 14 |
Common Raven | 3 |
Horned Lark | 10 |
Carolina Chickadee | 32 |
Black-capped Chickadee | 1 |
chickadee sp. | 92 |
Tufted Titmouse | 97 |
White-breasted Nuthatch | 107 |
Brown Creeper | 12 |
House Wren | 1 |
Winter Wren | 14 |
Carolina Wren | 183 |
Golden-crowned Kinglet | 22 |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 14 |
Eastern Bluebird | 173 |
Hermit Thrush | 6 |
American Robin | 2804 |
Gray Catbird | 2 |
Northern Mockingbird | 35 |
European Starling | 3970 |
Cedar Waxwing | 28 |
Pine Warbler | 1 |
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) | 63 |
American Tree Sparrow | 22 |
Field Sparrow | 36 |
Fox Sparrow | 5 |
Dark-eyed Junco (Slatecolored) | 441 |
White-throated Sparrow | 837 |
Song Sparrow | 210 |
Swamp Sparrow | 26 |
Eastern Towhee | 62 |
Northern Cardinal | 118 |
Red-winged Blackbird | 6607 |
Eastern Meadowlark | 19 |
Rusty Blackbird | 3 |
Common Grackle | 21565 |
Brown-headed Cowbird | 217 |
blackbird sp. | 510 |
House Finch | 348 |
American Goldfinch | 193 |
House Sparrow | 76 |
Total Individuals | 60112 |
Total Species Reported | 90 |
Princeton CBC 2019 Results
Snow Goose | 4252 |
Cackling Goose | 1 |
Canada Goose | 11637 |
Mute Swan | 5 |
Wood Duck | 2 |
Gadwall | 14 |
American Wigeon | 14 |
American Black Duck | 37 |
Mallard | 309 |
Northern Pintail | 1 |
Ring-necked Duck | 39 |
Bufflehead | 11 |
Hooded Merganser | 34 |
Common Merganser | 365 |
Red-breasted Merganser | 1 |
Ruddy Duck | 110 |
duck sp. | 22 |
Ring-necked Pheasant | 6 |
Pied-billed Grebe | 3 |
Double-crested Cormorant | 5 |
Great Blue Heron (Blue form) | 30 |
Black Vulture | 256 |
Turkey Vulture | 573 |
Osprey | 1 |
Northern Harrier | 23 |
Sharp-shinned Hawk | 4 |
Cooper's Hawk | 15 |
Bald Eagle | 33 |
Red-shouldered Hawk | 9 |
Red-tailed Hawk | 74 |
Rough-legged Hawk | 1 |
Buteo sp. | 1 |
Killdeer | 8 |
Ring-billed Gull | 477 |
Herring Gull | 806 |
Lesser Black-backed Gull | 2 |
Great Black-backed Gull | 17 |
gull sp. | 2 |
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) | 205 |
Mourning Dove | 298 |
Eastern Screech-Owl | 5 |
Great Horned Owl | 4 |
Belted Kingfisher | 13 |
Red-headed Woodpecker | 5 |
Red-bellied Woodpecker | 236 |
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | 17 |
Downy Woodpecker | 106 |
Hairy Woodpecker | 26 |
Northern Flicker | 153 |
Pileated Woodpecker | 14 |
American Kestrel | 3 |
Merlin | 2 |
Eastern Phoebe | 1cw |
Blue Jay | 505 |
American Crow | 218 |
Fish Crow | 123 |
crow sp. | 14 |
Common Raven | 3 |
Horned Lark | 10 |
Carolina Chickadee | 32 |
Black-capped Chickadee | 1 |
chickadee sp. | 92 |
Tufted Titmouse | 97 |
White-breasted Nuthatch | 107 |
Brown Creeper | 12 |
House Wren | 1 |
Winter Wren | 14 |
Carolina Wren | 183 |
Golden-crowned Kinglet | 22 |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 14 |
Eastern Bluebird | 173 |
Hermit Thrush | 6 |
American Robin | 2804 |
Gray Catbird | 2 |
Northern Mockingbird | 35 |
European Starling | 3970 |
Cedar Waxwing | 28 |
Pine Warbler | 1 |
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) | 63 |
American Tree Sparrow | 22 |
Field Sparrow | 36 |
Fox Sparrow | 5 |
Dark-eyed Junco (Slatecolored) | 441 |
White-throated Sparrow | 837 |
Song Sparrow | 210 |
Swamp Sparrow | 26 |
Eastern Towhee | 62 |
Northern Cardinal | 118 |
Red-winged Blackbird | 6607 |
Eastern Meadowlark | 19 |
Rusty Blackbird | 3 |
Common Grackle | 21565 |
Brown-headed Cowbird | 217 |
blackbird sp. | 510 |
House Finch | 348 |
American Goldfinch | 193 |
House Sparrow | 76 |
Total Individuals | 60112 |
Total Species Reported | 90 |
Trenton CBC 2019 Results
Snow Goose | 2 |
Cackling Goose | 1 |
Canada Goose | 8798 |
Mute Swan | 1 |
Wood Duck | 19 |
Gadwall | 120 |
American Wigeon | 2 |
American Black Duck | 275 |
Mallard | 295 |
Northern Shoveler | 19 |
Northern Pintail | 8 |
Green-winged Teal | 9 |
Ring-necked Duck | 237 |
Bufflehead | 12 |
Common Goldeneye | 18 |
Hooded Merganser | 36 |
Common Merganser | 276 |
Red-breasted Merganser | 1 |
Ruddy Duck | 2 |
Wild Turkey | 1 |
Double-crested Cormorant | 1 |
Great Cormorant | 6 |
Great Blue Heron (Blue form) | 14 |
Black Vulture | 52 |
Turkey Vulture | 117 |
Northern Harrier | 5 |
Cooper's Hawk | 4 |
Bald Eagle | 10 |
Red-shouldered Hawk | 2 |
Red-tailed Hawk | 18 |
Ring-billed Gull | 1657 |
Herring Gull | 7748 |
Lesser Black-backed Gull | 6 |
Glaucous Gull | 1 |
Great Black-backed Gull | 279 |
gull sp. | 12 |
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) | 414 |
Mourning Dove | 199 |
Eastern Screech-Owl | 1 |
Belted Kingfisher | 9 |
Red-bellied Woodpecker | 55 |
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | 9 |
Downy Woodpecker | 45 |
Hairy Woodpecker | 12 |
Northern Flicker | 46 |
Pileated Woodpecker | 1 |
American Kestrel | 3 |
Merlin | 1 |
Blue Jay | 505 |
American Crow | 71 |
Fish Crow | 142 |
crow sp. | 15 |
Carolina Chickadee | 43 |
chickadee sp. | 13 |
Tufted Titmouse | 45 |
White-breasted Nuthatch | 27 |
Brown Creeper | 4 |
Winter Wren | 14 |
Carolina Wren | 79 |
Golden-crowned Kinglet | 6 |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 4 |
Hermit Thrush | 4 |
American Robin | 321 |
Gray Catbird | 2 |
Northern Mockingbird | 18 |
European Starling | 5414 |
Cedar Waxwing | 3 |
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) | 38 |
Field Sparrow | 16 |
Fox Sparrow | 5 |
Dark-eyed Junco (Slatecolored) | 104 |
White-throated Sparrow | 284 |
Song Sparrow | 92 |
Swamp Sparrow | 23 |
Eastern Towhee | 7 |
Northern Cardinal | 83 |
Red-winged Blackbird | 191 |
Eastern Meadowlark | 19 |
Common Grackle | 1752 |
Brown-headed Cowbird | 10 |
blackbird sp. | 12 |
House Finch | 32 |
American Goldfinch | 11 |
House Sparrow | 67 |
Total Individuals | 29958 |
Total Species Reported | 80 |