The 55th annual Athol Circle Christmas Bird Count was held December 17th, 2022. The count sponsored by the National Audubon Society has been running the now hemisphere wide counts for 123 years. National Audubon designates a 15-mile diameter circle where all the bird heard or seen are counted. The counts are held annually between December 14th and January 5th. Both the species and number of individual birds are recorded as well as observer effort with miles/hours by car and on foot. The Athol Circle centers on the old Junior high school, now School Street apartments, where club founder Bob Coyle got many of us interested in birds in the 8th grade.
This year 27 ABNC members and friends took to the fields and forest of the area in search of birds while an additional 13 members reported feeder counts. The results of the count were 8,252 birds of 63 species located on the count day. 2 additional birds were observed count week but no on the count day. They were Pine Grosbeak and Fox Sparrow. One species was added to the overall list with a Ruddy Duck seen on Lake Mattawa. The historical list of species seen on our Christmas Count is now at 138 species.
The complete list of birds observed is included below:
Canada Goose 96, Wood Duck 1, Am. Black Duck 57, Mallard 294, Ruddy Duck 1, Hooded Merganser 147, Common Merganser 15, Ringed-Neck Pheasant 3, Wild Turkey 237, Common Loon 2, Great-blue Heron 1, Bald Eagle 15, Northern Harrier 1, Coopers Hawk 1, Red-shouldered Hawk 6, Red-Tailed Hawk 11, Ring-Billed Gull 10, Herring Gull 2, Rock (Dove) Pigeon 308, Mourning Dove 691, Great Horned Owl 1, Barred Owl 4, Belted Kingfisher 2, Red-bellied woodpecker 41, Yellow-bellied sapsucker 1, Downy Woodpecker 144, Hairy Woodpecker 59, Northern Flicker 2, Pileated Woodpecker 11, Blue Jay 360, American Crow 92, Common Raven 52, Horned Lark 26, Black-capped Chickadee 898,
Tufted Titmouse 403, Red-Breasted Nuthatch 24, White-Breasted Nuthatch 168, Brown Creeper 12, Carolina Wren 30, Winter Wren 5, Golden-crowned Kinglet 18, Eastern Bluebird 215, Hermit Thrush 1, American Robin 141, Gray Catbird 1, Northern Mockingbird 5, Starling 1184, Cedar Waxwing 141, Rufous-sided Towhee 1, American Tree Sparrow 73, Fox Sparrow (CW), Song Sparrow 50, Swamp Sparrow 3, White-Throated Sparrow 27, Dark-eyed Junco 607, Northern Cardinal 197, Red-winged Blackbird 5, Brown-Headed Cowbird 1, Pine Grosbeak (CW), Purple Finch 29, House Finch 237, Pine Siskin 5, American Goldfinch 283, Evening Grosbeak 144, House Sparrow 650.
The field teams included: Jon Skinner, Greg Watkevich, Josh Rose, Mark Taylor Bill and Jay Rasku, Bob Mallet, Jacob Morris Siegal, Bruce Scherer, Tom Pirro, John Henshaw, Steve Ferrell, Chris Coyle, David Cass, Jeff Johnstone, Jessica Johnstone Darling, Ann Cervantes, Lynn Harper, Joan and Larry Duprey, Dave Small, Duane Truehart, James Mallet, Ernie Leblanc, Susan and Bill Fitzgerald.
Feeder watchers included: Marti Horman, Bob Juckins, Tom Henry, Susan Heinricher, Heidi Strickland, Steve DeStefano, Lynn Harper, Clare Green, Sherry Johnstone, Bonnie House, Paul Goyetche, Deb Vondal, Lynn Boudreau, Ann Spring, and Beverly Taylor.
Next year’s Athol count will be held on Saturday, December 16, 2023, if interested in this or other events offered by the Athol Bird and Nature Club email Dave@atholbirdclub.org or visit the website www.atholbirdclub.org