2016 Morro Coast Audubon Christmas Bird Count Results The 63nd Morro Bay Christmas Bird Count held on December 17, 2016 recorded a total of 200 species. This is one bird above the count average since 1980. The weather certainly helped this year with mostly clear skies, calm to mild winds, and the temperature ranging from 38° to 60° Fahrenheit. This year a total of 116 participants were divided into 63 parties that spent 58.6 hours driving 182.4 miles, 222.6 hours walking 146.4 miles, 6.4 hours boating 8 miles, 15.25 hours at feeders, and 5.5 hours and 7.6 miles owling (foot & car). It was particularly gratifying to see many new participants this year, both covering areas and watching feeders. The total of 41,692 birds recorded is 6,813 less than the average since 1980. One new species, Black Vulture (previously only recorded in count week), was added to the count this year. The count’s cumulative species total (1948-2016) now stands at 318 species. The most notable species this year (recorded on 10 counts or less since 1980) were Black Vulture (1st), Bald Eagle (6th), Marbled Murrelet (8th), Ancient Murrelet (9th), Eastern Phoebe (7th), Common Raven (6th), Barn Swallow (10th), Nelson’s Sparrow (10th), and Grasshopper Sparrow (4th). Other rarities of note were Eurasian Wigeon (2), Long-tailed Duck (1), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (1), Black-and-white Warbler (1), Swamp Sparrow (1), White-throated Sparrow (3), Slate-colored Junco (1), and Bullock’s Oriole (1). Species seen during count week, but not on count day, were Mountain Bluebird, Bay-breasted Warbler, and Summer Tanager. There were a few notable counts and misses. Brant numbers were low for the 5th straight year with only 477, or 27% of average. All time high counts were recorded for Cassin’s Kingbird (47), Tree Swallow (69), and Bell’s Sparrow (4). Almost missed (only one recorded) were Greater Scaup, Green Heron, Surfbird, Thayer’s Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Short-eared Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, White-throated Swift, Allen’s Hummingbird, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, and Varied Thrush. The top ten highest species totals, and the only species totals of 1000 or more birds, were: White-crowned Sparrow (2335), Sanderling (1593), Least Sandpiper (1578), Ruddy Duck (1558), Brown-headed Cowbird (1545), American Crow (1487), European Starling (1282), Brewer’s Blackbird (1255), Lesser Scaup (1162), and Marbled Godwit (1019). Thanks to the all the participants that contributed to this year’s success – it would not happen without you! Special thanks to Bert and Elaine Townsend for coordinating the count registrations, Area Leaders Maggie Smith, Mike Stiles, Eric Weir, Kaaren Perry, and Bill Bouton for organizing the participants and recruiting counters, Connie Harms for helping track our progress during count day, Joanne Aasen for managing the count web page, and again to Maggie Smith for all the effort she put into organizing the count. Complete count details should be available on the Audubon (http://netapp.audubon.org/cbcobservation/ after Feb 15th. Tom Edell, Count Compiler

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