My Christmas Bird Count

It was a chilly 23 degrees as I started my Christmas Bird Count at the overlook of the Tioga-Hammond Lakes just outside of Tioga, PA. After a brief stop there, I moved to Ive's Run on the west end of Hammond Lake and then to the Rail Road Grade Trail from the inlet of Crooked Creek to Hammond Lake to the trails western terminus.

While I didn't find many species at any one location, I did end up with a total of 20 for the morning. And for a few of those species, I saw a large number of individuals.

The results:

Mallard 32
Bald Eagle 1
Broad-winged Hawk 1 [Upon further review, I believe this was a Red-tailed Hawk and not a Broad-winged Hawk. My bad!]
Red-tailed Hawk 2 3 [Corrected to reflect the above comment.]
Downy Woodpecker 1
Ring-billed Gull 90
Blue Jay 11
American Crow 12
Black-capped Chickadee 32
Tufted Titmouse 5
Eastern Bluebird 4
American Robin 4
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
European Starling 7
Cedar Waxwing 100
American Tree Sparrow 25
White-throated Sparrow 2
Dark-eyed Junco 126
Northern Cardinal 10


Ten or twelve of us met to hand in our lists and discuss our findings. I think I saw more birds than most thanks to the gulls, waxwings and juncos.