Provo CBC Results

[Keeli Marvel]

A big THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the Provo CBC this year! We had roughly 50 participants who drove/walked a cumulative 540 miles to find 91 bird species in our count circle. 

Some notable finds this year: Bryan Shirley covered the East Bay area and he found the only Lincoln Sparrows, Black-crowned Night Herons and Eurasian Wigeon in our count circle. Jeff Cooper, birding the East Provo 7 Peaks/State Hospital area, picked up our only Western Screech-owl (and only owl of the count), and had a Peregrine Falcon in his area late that afternoon. My group at the BYU Motion Pic Studio lot picked up only Red-naped Sapsucker. Donel Jensen picked up the only Harris's Sparrow, Hooded Merganser, and Lesser Scaup in our count area. J Shirley filled in for his dad in the South Utah Lake/ Benjamin area and picked up our only two Tundra Swans. They've only been reported on one other count in 2017. He was also the only area to get Ring-necked Pheasants in, which is really unusual. Jonathan Peterson, Rex Hadlock, and Steve Peterson picked up our only Bufflehead on Provo Bay (south Provo around the Hobble Creek WMA area). Alona Huffaker and Kathleen picked up the only Pine Siskins in the Springville area. We had two over-wintering American White Pelicans - one in the Lindon Boat Harbor area, and one that is a permanent resident in East Bay. Marie Hinckley and her sons got the only Golden Eagle on the count in the East Orem foothills near the cemetary. Suzi Holt and her crew got the only Canvasback on the count. We picked up two overwintering Say's Phoebes - one by Donel Jensen in west Provo, one by Kayla Echols on BYU campus. We've only picked them up on 5 other years of the Christmas Bird Count.

One notable miss was Brown Creepers. We didn't get any on the count this year. We also missed out on Great-horned and Barn Owls this year.

We appreciate everyone who joined in the effort! Next year will be the 50th Anniversary of the Provo Count Circle, and 50 years of christmas bird counting is definitely something to celebrate! Stay tuned next year for details.

In the meantime, 2022 brings another UCB birding challenge and we have some great field trips in the works as part of the challenge! Tune in to our newsletter or facebook page for more details.

Happy Birding!

Keeli Marvel