Towheeblog

Our CBC team covered one part of Sector #1 in the annual Salem Christmas Count. It was chilly, sometimes windy and wet at start and finale, but we found some birds anyway. It helps that many of the birds we saw were gulls or waterfowl who really don’t hide from cold water. Fourteen species of ducks and geese, plus coot, grebe and cormorant. We saw nothing unexpected or unusual this year.

Here’s what our team found, not including any sightings from the other two teams covering the rest of our sector:
SALEM CBC AREA #1, Marion, Oregon, US
Dec 19, 2020
54 species (+2 other taxa)

Cackling Goose  1120
Canada Goose  66
Northern Shoveler  90
Gadwall  15
American Wigeon  16
Mallard  142
Mallard (Domestic type)  25
Northern Pintail  65
Green-winged Teal  485
Ring-necked Duck  2
Lesser Scaup  5
Bufflehead  24
Hooded Merganser  1
Common Merganser  21
Ruddy Duck  39
Pied-billed Grebe  14
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  3
Mourning Dove  3
American Coot  117
Long-billed Dowitcher  10
Wilson’s Snipe  10
Greater Yellowlegs  14
Mew Gull  15
Ring-billed Gull  16
California Gull  3
Herring Gull  7
Glaucous-winged Gull  165
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)  2
Double-crested Cormorant  12
Great Egret  2
Bald Eagle  2
Red-tailed Hawk  7
Belted Kingfisher  2
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  4
American Kestrel  1
Black Phoebe  1
California Scrub-Jay  11
American Crow  62
Black-capped Chickadee  2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  5
Bewick’s Wren  1
European Starling  1150
American Robin  19
House Sparrow  15
Pine Siskin  18
Lesser Goldfinch  1
Dark-eyed Junco  45
White-crowned Sparrow  30
Golden-crowned Sparrow  15
Savannah Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  4
Lincoln’s Sparrow  1
Spotted Towhee  2
Red-winged Blackbird  50
Brewer’s Blackbird  24