Christmas Bird Count 2024
On December 29, 2023, we conducted the 32nd annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count compiled by the Friends of the Wekiva River. I am the current compiler, taking over about 15 years ago from the original compiler and FOWR founder, Fred Harden.
This year, 33 participants traversed across 15 zones in the count circle, with several teams beginning before dawn and ending after sunset. In this count, we seek to count species of birds and the numbers of individuals. Our results are tabulated, combined with those across Florida, and submitted to the Audubon Society, which has led this annual event for over 120 years.
This year, we observed 126 species and 8,461 individual birds. The most abundant birds were Tree Swallow (1025), White Ibis (1010), and Fish Crow (809). We saw more than 250 individuals of American Robin, Common Grackle, and Yellow-rumped Warbler. Some of the relatively rare birds (at least for this time of the year) included Short-tailed Hawk, Snail Kite, and American Redstart.
We continued to have a paucity of birds such as Northern Bobwhite, Eastern Meadowlark, and Loggerhead Shrike, which are dependent upon grassland habitats. We had 10 species of migratory warblers, including Palm Warbler, Black and White Warbler, Pine Warbler, and Yellow-throated Warbler. Wading birds are commonly observed on all our counts, including Little Blue Heron, Great Blue Heron, and Great Egret, along with a few observations of Black- crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons, and single observations of American and Least Bitterns.
We are always seeking young birders to join the count, and on my team this year was 14-year-old Lizbeth Escano. She has great birding and photographic skills, and she took a fantastic picture of one of the federally threatened Florida Scrub-jays that we observed on Seminole State Forest during the count.
This annual count allows us to traverse across urban landscapes, rural enclaves, and expansive public conservation areas to gauge the health of the habitats that support birds. It is one of many monitoring efforts ongoing by the FOWR to assure that natural resources are protected in the Wekiva basin. Let us know if you would like to join us on future birding trips, including the Christmas Bird Count next year.
Jay Exum
Photo of Florida Scrub-jay by Lizbeth Escano
Photo of Seminole State Forest team: Junior Diaz, Lizbeth Escano, Jay Exum, Leslee Green, Kathy Rigling