Madison-area Christmas Bird Count: 2020 Results
Perks to mask-wearing: extra warmth! Photo provided by Dan Jergens, group 22 captain.
The Christmas Bird Count is an incredible tradition, carrying on for 121 years nation-wide and 71 years in the Madison area. Through those years, the country, landscape, environment, and culture has changed and changed again. This wasn’t the first pandemic that CBC birders birded through! But it certainly made for an interesting process, leading up to and during the event.
Madison Audubon has coordinated the Madison-area CBC for the last 4 years, in partnership with 23 area captains (all volunteers) who have been part of this event for many, many years—in some cases, decades. Because of COVID-19, a number of modifications were made to how the event unfolded, and the volunteers were amazing to roll with them. Participants could only bird together if they were from the same household. No sharing equipment. No carpooling. Some areas that have annual potlucks and coffee breaks together had to adjust their traditions. The end-of-day compiling party was held over Zoom instead of all together in a room filled with scents of chili, hot chocolate, and cookies.
Madison’s group 17 is famous for their group lunch potluck halfway through the day. Instead of cozying up side of someone’s house, the crew parked and popped their trunks for a socially distant picnic! Photo by Carolyn Byers
We thought there would be low volunteer turn out and therefore less of an ability to cover a wide area in search of birds. And yet, bird-lovers persevered and the count was completed successfully and safely, and we saw LOTS of birds! Nearly 175 volunteers helped scour the Madison-area for birds, and an incredible 97 species were documented, plus an additional 4 species in the 3 days before or after (a period called Count Week). Many of the area captains noted they saw the greatest diversity of birds this year than ever before, and that 97 species total ties the record for diversity in Madison, set in 2017.
Thank you to everyone who helped pull together this incredible activity during a pandemic, and for embracing the changes to tradition that allowed for this event to occur.
Happy birding,
Brenna Marsicek
Madison-area CBC coordinator
Madison Audubon director of communications & outreach
Cover photo by Aaron Maizlish
Results of the 2020 Madison-area Christmas Bird Count
December 19, 2020 (Count week: Dec. 16-22, 2020)
97 Species + 4 Count Week Species | 52,004 individual birds
169 birders (145 in field, 24 at feeders)
White-winged crossbills were one of the highlights of the 2020 CBC! Photo by Aaron Maizlish
Belted Kingfisher - 23 (High count)
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 321
Downy Woodpecker - 516 (High count)
Hairy Woodpecker - 159 (High count)
Northern Flicker - 16
Pileated Woodpecker - 2
American Kestrel - 5
Northern Shrike - 4
Blue Jay - 369
American Crow - 1,054
Horned Lark - 8
Barn Swallow - 3 (High count)
Black-capped Chickadee - 1,845 (High count)
Tufted Titmouse - 57
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 81
White-breasted Nuthatch - 689 (High count)
Brown Creeper - 81
Winter Wren - 11 (High count)
Marsh Wren - 3 (High count)
Carolina Wren - 10 (High count)
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 12
Eastern Bluebird - 13
Hermit Thrush - 1
American Robin - 697
Gray Catbird - 1
European Starling - 3,215
Cedar Waxwing - 149
American Tree Sparrow - 578
Field Sparrow - 1
Fox Sparrow - 6
Dark-eyed Junco - 1,402
White-crowned Sparrow - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 30
Savannah Sparrow - 1
Song Sparrow - 60
Swamp Sparrow - 13
Spotted Towhee - 1 (High count)
Northern Cardinal - 1,008 (High count)
Red-winged Blackbird - 154
Western Meadowlark - 1
Common Grackle - 9
Brown-headed Cowbird - 13
House Finch - 1,465 (High count)
Purple Finch - 3
White-winged Crossbill - 9
Common Redpoll - 19
Pine Siskin - 160
American Goldfinch - 1,140
House Sparrow - 4,323
Cackling Goose - 37
Canada Goose - 12,145
Trumpeter Swan - 2
Tundra Swan - 1,300
Duck spp. – 2 (doesn’t count toward diversity total)
Wood Duck - 32
Gadwall - 156
American Wigeon - 27
American Black Duck - 425
Mallard - 5,044
Northern Shoveler - 1,381
Northern Pintail - 3
Green-winged Teal - 8
Canvasback - 56
Redhead - 35
Ring-necked Duck - 5
Greater Scaup - 1
Lesser Scaup - 155
White-winged Scoter - 3
Long-tailed Duck - 11
Bufflehead - 440
Common Goldeneye - 2,048
Hooded Merganser - 54
Common Merganser - 2,073
Ruddy Duck - 13
Ring-Necked Pheasant - 2
Wild Turkey - 462
Common Loon - 7
Pied-billed Grebe - 1
Great Blue Heron - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Cooper's Hawk - 29
Bald Eagle – 37
Red-tailed Hawk - 124
American Coot - 679
Sandhill Crane - 222
Wilson's Snipe - 1
Gull spp. – 29 (doesn’t count toward diversity total)
Ring-billed Gull - 602
Herring Gull - 2,862
Iceland Gull - 6 (High count)
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 6 (High count)
Glaucous Gull - 4
Bonapartes' Gull - 1 (First report and High count)
Rock Pigeon - 285
Mourning Dove - 1,374
Eastern Screech Owl - 11
Great Horned Owl - 44
Barred Owl - 9 (High count)
Northern Saw-whet Owl - 3
Count Week Species
Species found within 3 days before or after the official count day. Does not count toward official species total.
Snow Goose - CW
Red-breasted Merganser - CW
Great Black-backed Gull - CW
Red-headed Woodpecker - CW
Notable misses
Not observed in 2020, but observed more than 25 times previously). Species and the number of years previously observed are listed below:
Northern Harrier - 42
Rough-legged Hawk - 67
Lapland Longspur - 35
