The Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) could be better but has been somewhat beneficial as is…
The 83rd Eugene Christmas Bird Count (ECBC) was a great success. On December 29, 2024, 170 hardy birdwatchers took to the field and walked 169 miles, drove 409 miles, and rode bicycles 4 miles looking for birds. They, along with 107 Home Counters, identified 138 bird species and counted 73,250 individual birds. Combined, Field Observers and Home Counters spent a total of 552 hours looking and listening for birds.
Articles by ECBC Species Compiler Vjera Thompson and Home Count Coordinator Marcia Maffei go into more depth about the birds we identified.
A total of 170 Field Observers, our second highest number ever, participated in this year’s Count. Last year’s total of 190 was the most we’ve ever had. Combining the 170 Field Observers with 107 Home Counters brought the total to 277 observers, our second highest number of Count participants ever. Last year was the highest at 291. This year’s 107 Home Counters was our fourth highest.
Fortunately, the prediction for rain all day did not come true, as the sun came out around 8 am and it didn’t start raining until around 3 pm. The early morning birders who went out looking and listening for owls from around 5 to 7 am did get wet. Some teams experienced flooding in areas they would normally walk through looking for birds. Many thought we should submit the number of rainbows we observed in the afternoon because they were as colorful as birds!
At the end of the day, around 75 Field Observers gathered at Putters on Highway 99N for a Pizza Countdown. This was a fun way to end a full day of finding birds with other birdwatchers.
The ECBC is surprisingly impressive for such a small organization, due to having so many active birders in the Eugene-Springfield area, combined with the outstanding energy and efforts of our 28 dedicated Team Leaders. They organize their teams and guide them all day long while looking for birds. I have listed the Team Leaders on this page. Some have led teams for more than 20 years, some more than 30! We were also happy to welcome five new Team Leaders this year.
I want to thank the LCAS Board of Directors for sponsoring the ECBC; Vjera Thompson, the Species Compiler; Marcia Maffei, the Home Count Coordinator; and all the Team Leaders for making the 83rd ECBC fun, educational, and exciting! Thank you all! For more info see the CBC page.
-Dick Lamster
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