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Hilton Head Audubon Christmas Bird Count
The Christmas Bird Count
The Audubon Christmas Bird Count is an early winter snapshot of bird populations. It is the nation’s longest-running citizen science survey, providing critical data on bird population trends. The count started in 1900 and has grown to include many locations in the Western Hemisphere. Each count is done in a 15-mile diameter circle. There are now over 2,600 count circles! Counts must be scheduled on one day between December 14 and January 5.
Our Hilton Head count day is usually near the beginning of the count time period. We identify and count all birds seen or heard in a 24-hour period. Our 15-mile diameter circle includes all of Hilton Head, Pinckney and Daufuskie Islands, our waterways and parts of Bluffton out to Palmetto Bluff and Colleton River Club. We have 21 Area Captains who lead the teams. Teams include birders of various levels of experience, photographers and record keepers.
Christmas Bird Count 2024
The Hilton Head area count is on Monday, December 16th. Our 21 Area Captains are contacting participants and putting their teams together. We always welcome more birders, so if you are interested in being a part of this international effort, please e-mail HHICBC@gmail.com and we will have a Captain contact you. You do not have to be an accomplished birder. Start out as the recorder, a spotter, or as the photographer in a more experienced group! You can also participate from the comfort of home by being one of our Feeder Watchers.
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Please click here to review and download the 2023 Hilton Head CBC 10-year Summary Report
Christmas Bird Count 2023
Count day, Friday, December 15, 2023, was sunny but windy, with temperatures in the 40’s and 50’s. We counted 28,858 birds and 137 species, close to our average numbers.
There were 247 field observers on 77 teams and 79 feeder watchers for a total of 326 participants. There were 82 participants who were new to our count.
Bob Speare, our count advisor, observed: ”The morning started out cool and breezy, and I feared many of our songbirds might be hunkered down and quiet. But it seems bright skies kept the number of these birds pretty strong. I’m sure teams, like mine, found many sunny spots out of the wind with mixed flocks sunning and feeding. A couple highlights among these species included White-throated Sparrows tallying 49, while 23 Golden-crowned Kinglets were also counted, both 10-year highs.
Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks have been on a steep increase since 2019 when only nine birds were counted. That rise continued as 247 were sighted in this year’s count–up 50% from last year’s 164. Additionally, I was pleased to see the number of our other tree-nesting duck, the Wood Duck, at a 10-year high of 219.”
Some of the rare or unusual birds on our December count included an Eastern Meadowlark. two Rusty Blackbirds, a Fox Sparrow. a Winter Wren, two female Painted Buntings a Sharp-shinned Hawk, a Northern Harrier, a Loggerhead Shrike and a Red Knot. High count species of over 2,000 birds were Dunlins, Semipalmated Plovers and Red-winged Blackbirds.
American White Pelicans were reported by 10 different teams, in numbers from 2 to 190. We merged the counts, totaling 505 birds, and reported the highest number seen in one spot, 190. As Robert Rommel explained, White Pelicans fly from their roosting sites into our area to feed in the morning. Their group splits and merges as they fly off in small groups during the day over a miles-wide area.
Bald Eagles numbered 53 after subtracting a few that were determined to be duplicates. You can see more data on each species in the updated 10-Year History of our count by clicking on the download. Our results will be submitted to the Regional Editor and will be final once approved. By December 2024, we will have the full results from National Audubon for all count circles.
Update on the December 2022 CBC
National Audubon has issued their report on the 2022 count and it is interesting reading available on their website. Our Hilton Head CBC had second highest number of participants of all the 2,625 count circles in the Western Hemisphere! (Our total last year was 379: 280 field observers and 99 feeder watchers.) Overall, there were 79,005 observers across the Western Hemisphere, who counted over 40 million birds. This is similar to the past several seasons but the national summary discusses the dramatic decline in numbers from 35 years ago.
We could not have such a successful count without the enthusiasm and dedication of our participants and leaders. Special thanks go to our Area Captains who do a superb job of recruiting, organizing and reporting. This includes four boats on our choppy waterways, piloted by generous volunteer boat captains. Special thanks also go to our expert panel (Bob Speare, Robert Rommel and Sarah Gustafson) who reviewed all of the results on a marathon Zoom call with each Area Captain. Thanks to all who contributed!
- Articles
- Annual bird count helps develop science, conservations policies in South Carolina. Article by Susan Murphy and Robert Rommel published in The State and The Island Packet newspapers, February 2022
- Counting is actually for the birds as humans on Hilton Head notch species and tabs, Post and Courier, December 24, 2022.
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