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Each year on the Saturday before Christmas Hilton Pond Center oversees the York/Rock Hill SC Christmas Bird Count--one of nearly 2,000 CBCs conducted across the Americas under the auspices of the National Audubon Society. Begun in 1900 as an alternative to traditional holiday bird shoots--when participants tried to see who could bring down the most birds on Christmas Day--CBCs have become the longest-running citizen science initiative in North America. The 2007 York/Rock Hill CBC was the 17th time we have censused birds of York County; this year's results, although not extraordinary, were still valuable as a snapshot of early winter avian activity in the South Carolina Piedmont.

A Sharp-shinned Hawk surveying the feeders at Hilton Pond Center. This is probably a juvenile male, based on small size (females are typically a third larger), yellow eye color (not red as in an adult), and breast markings (vertical red-brown streaks rather than the adult's red-orange horizontal barring).

All text, maps, tables & photos © Hilton Pond Center

This year's four participants--one of the smaller groups in our local count history--included the three folks with greatest longevity on the York/Rock Hill CBC: Bob Olson of Rock Hill and Susan Holland of River Hills (11 years each) and Bill Hilton Jr. (the count's founder and a 17-year veteran). Also participating for the second time this year was Robert Miller--one of our students from Fort Mill teaching days--who came on board in 2006. It's a given four people can't possibly count all the birds in a 15-mile diameter circle (see map below), but by following the same routes year after year we get a pretty good idea about whether various species are present and if numbers are up or down.

Our master list of York County birds that might be found in winter includes 126 species, from waterfowl to migrant finches to vagrant hummingbirds; of these we have seen 108. Our most diverse year was 2000 when eight observers tallied 80 species; this year (on 22 December) we were able to find 66 species--very close to our 17-year average of 67. Our highest count of individual birds came in 1994 when more than 7,000 American Robins and 3,000 Ring-billed Gulls significantly padded the total of 12,945. On average we have spotted 5,722 birds; this year we recorded only 1,781--our lowest total ever--in part because we never found any large flocks of blackbirds, gulls, or American Robins. (The previous low was 1,915 in 2001 when we had eight counters.)

There were no new species observed for the 2007 count. One species--Fox Sparrow--reached an all-time high of four individuals seen, eclipsing the old record of two; this year's count was only the third time we've recorded this species. Also making a rare appearance was a single Red-breasted Nuthatch (fourth time recorded). Of our 108 species tallied during the 17 years of the York/Rock Hill CBC, 26 have been observed every year; despite our low overall total, in 2007 we equalled or exceeded the average for 25 species (listed on Table 1 below in RUST, plus three species in GREEN or BLUE).

After observing no vultures at the York County landfill last year, we were pleased in 2007 to see a scavenger resurgence--however minor. We were able to capture overhead images of both Turkey Vultures (above) and Black Vultures (below), providing good comparisons for the two species. As shown, Turkey Vultures have rather long, wedge-shaped tails and gray trailing edges to their wings; the Black Vulture's tail is shorter and more square and its wingtips are white. Although barely visible in these photos, adult Turkey Vultures have bright red heads (heads of immatures are grayish-black) while the head of a Black Vulture is always dark.

Also present at the landfill were Ring-billed Gulls and European Starlings, although we missed the American Kestrels and Loggerhead Shrikes present in previous years.

As shown in the photo above--taken on the main road at the landfill--the Ring-billed Gull is aptly named: A dark band encircles the entire bill near its tip. This particular bird--which is in at least its second winter--is in non-breeding plumage, with pale gray mottling on its neck, nape, and head; during nesting season these regions are pure white.

It's always good to have a few feeders and feeder watchers situated within a Christmas Bird Count circle. For the fifth consecutive winter Lenore Berry of Rock Hill SC guaranteed Perdita, her well-documented out-of-range Rufous Hummingbird, and Susan Hilton picked up a Brown-headed Nuthatch (above left, with American Goldfinches and a female Northern Cardinal) at one of the feeders at Hilton Pond Center.

Our most unusual bird of the day was spotted at a gas station in Rock Hill--a Northern Goshawk (above left) that we doubt the regional compiler will accept from our list. For some reason, images of birds plastered on the sides of moving vans are insufficient documentation for inclusion in the final tally. In any case, the 17th annual York/Rock Hill SC Christmas Bird Count was fun and productive, even though we saw a record-low number of birds and only an average number of species on 22 December 2007.

All text, maps, tables & photos © Hilton Pond Center

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Be sure to scroll down for an account of all
birds banded or recaptured during the period,
plus other nature notes of interest.

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