Lane County Audubon Society’s 2022 Eugene Christmas Bird Count
The 81st Eugene Christmas Bird Count (ECBC) was held on Sunday, January 1. The day started as one of the warmest ECBC in recent memory. All 153 excited bird watchers took to the field and, along with 102 Home Counters, identified 133 species of birds and 80,801 individual birds (see the Count Tally below). These numbers are about average for the past two decades. A more detailed summary by Species Compiler Vjera Thompson can be found below on the Eugene Christmas Bird Count Report tab.
Teams covered each of the usual 26 Areas inside our Count Circle, each led by an expert birder. The 26 teams comprised 153 Field Observers, the fifth highest number of Field Observers for our Count. The highest number, 164, was set last year. In total, Field Observers spent 272 hours looking for birds while walking 175 miles, driving 591 miles, and bicycling 12 miles!
Added to that were the 102 Home Counters, who identified 75 species and recorded 7,676 individual birds. Marcia Maffei was the Home Count Coordinator again this year. As usual, she did a great job of organizing. See her report below at the Eugene Home Count Report tab.
Due to COVID restrictions, for the third year we could not have our traditional Chili Feed Countdown at the end of the day. We did have a Zoom Countdown viewed by approximately 75 people. I really hope we can have the Chili Feed Countdown next year. It is a fun event, typically attended by more than 100 birders.
One of the main reasons the ECBC is so popular and so successful is because of the efforts of the Team Leaders listed on this page. They assemble their teams well before Count Day, guide them through the day, and then report the results.
A few of the leaders changed this year. Three Areas had first-time Team Leaders: Joshua Galpern in Area 9, Sarah Merkle in Area 13A, and Tye Jeske in Area 17. Jim Maloney came out of “retirement” to be the Team Leader for Area 10. John Sullivan exchanged his role as Team Leader for Area 17 to Leader for Area 6. Thanks to all of these new Leaders.
Speaking of great efforts, last year our Count was the 9th largest in number of participants of the 2,612 CBCs in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. That is quite remarkable for a little town in Oregon!
I am very pleased that our 81st ECBC was both safe and very successful. Thank you to all of you who participated. It was fun!
It’s not too early to mark your calendar for the 82nd ECBC, set for December 31, 2023.
Team Leaders by Area
1: Ron Renchler
2: Rich Hoyer
3A: Dan & Anne Heyerly
3B: Darryl Wisner
4: Rick Ahrens
5A: Donna Albino & Tim Griffin
5B: Marcia Maffei
6: John Sullivan
7: Roger Robb
8: Dave Kofranek
9: Joshua Galpern
10: Jim Maloney
11A: David Novak
11B: Dick Lamster
12A: Steve Gordon
13A: Sarah Merkle
13B: Holly Hartmann
14: Julia Siporin
15: Thomas Meinzen
16: Linda Gilbert
17: Tye Jeske
18: Caryn Stoess
19: Barbara Combs
20A: Vjera Thompson
20B: Bruce Newhouse
21: Ellen Cantor
By Dick Lamster, Count Coordinator
The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a long-standing program of the National Audubon Society, with over 100 years of citizen science involvement. It is an early-winter bird census, where thousands of volunteers across the US, Canada and many countries in the Western Hemisphere, go out on one calendar day to count birds.
Local events take place in Eugene, Florence, Cottage Grove, and Oakridge at the end of December, and are open to anyone interested in birds. If you are just starting to get interested and want to learn more, this is a fun and exciting opportunity to learn about birds and birding from experienced birders. For dates, see our December events calendar.
You may also contact Dick Lamster at 541-343-8664
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