Barr Lake CBC results

[Colin Woolley]

On Dec 28th, we held the 45th consecutive CBC at Barr Lake. We had 32 participants among 10 survey groups and collectively we saw 32,867 birds of 76 species. We average about 72 species for this count circle, and our total number of individual birds has held steady around 30k over the last decade.

The day of the count we actually had a few inches of snow on the ground around Barr Lake; a welcome change from the unusually warm weather that preceded (and has followed) the count date. There was nearly no ice on Barr Lake itself nor other reservoirs and ponds within the count circle.

Cackling and Canada Geese numbers were down from their average though still accounted for almost a third of the total number of birds (9,161 Cackling and Canada Geese combined). Overall waterfowl numbers were low across most species, except notably Northern Shovelers had their 2^nd highest total ever with 4,089 tallied.

Bald Eagle numbers were low again this year, though up slightly from last year. We counted 52 this year compared 47 last year, down from our all-time high of 153 Bald Eagles in 2023. 

Bonaparte’s Gulls were a new species for the count circle with 10 individuals counted, and we had all-time high counts of Wild Turkey (60) and White-crowned Sparrows (566). Western Meadowlarks (418) came in at their highest in over a decade. Some notable misses this year were Virginia Rails (usually we get a few) and the rarer winter sparrows (no Lincoln’s, Swamp, White-throated, Harris’s or Golden-crowned Sparrows). Overall, it was a surprisingly average year, despite the unusually warm weather leading up to the count date.

Thanks to all our participants, hope to see you all again in a year!

Colin Woolley
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies
Barr Lake CBC Compiler
Wheat Ridge, CO