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

23nd ANNUAL YORK/ROCK HILL (SC)
CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT

Each winter--in cooperation with the National Audubon Society--Hilton Pond Center implements and compiles a Christmas Bird Count (CBC) for York/Rock Hill in York County, South Carolina (see map above). Christmas Bird Counts--perhaps the first big organized citizen science effort--originated 113 years ago as an alternative to traditional holiday bird hunts when folks young and old used newly gifted guns to see who could bring down the most birds. For that first CBC in 1900, ornithologist Frank Chapman organized 25 counts from Toronto to Pacific Grove CA and involved 27 participants who tallied 89 combined species. That's a far cry from 2011 when 2,248 CBCs in the United States, Canada & Latin America involved more than 63,000 participants who tallied more than 60 million birds, with nearly 650 species in just the U.S.

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

We started the York/Rock Hill count in 1991 to help provide a snapshot of numbers and species of winter birds present in central York County--in the heart of the Carolina Piedmont Region. Beginning before sunrise and finishing at dusk, participants identify and tally birds seen and/or heard in an area inscribed by a standard circle 15 miles in diameter (see map above)--centered where Tools Fork Creek flows beneath SC Hwy 5 (West Main Street) just west of Northwestern High School. (Count-center coordinates are 34° 57' 23.57" N, 81º 06' 24.64" W; in decimal degrees that's N34.956547, W81.106844.) The count circle includes all of Hilton Pond Center, as well as a mix of urban/suburban/rural habitats and large sections of southern Lake Wylie (below) on the Catawba River. Participants are assigned one or more of the circle's 11 sectors and are expected to spend all (or part of) the day covering the area(s) by car and on foot--perhaps even by canoe or bicycle! This year our York/Rock Hill CBC--normally held the Saturday before Christmas--was on 21 December as planned.

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

The York/Rock Hill 2012 count was warmer than most, with a 6:30 a.m. temperature of 48.5 degree F. (Other weather conditions included clear skies, no wind, and no frozen water.) The bad news was that scouting trips earlier in the week to several usually productive spots hadn't yielded many birds; this news--coupled with reports the fruit crop in Canada was so good winter finches or other seed-eating species might not fly south--meant we weren't expecting big numbers. The good news was we had four count participants in 2013 . . . double what we had for last year's record low. On hand were count founder/compiler Bill Hilton Jr. (present for all 23 years) and long-time veteran Bob Olson (our second-most-faithful counter with 16 years). We also had two first-timers: Charles Payne (who happens to live near Rock Hill's Glencairn Garden, within the count circle) and his friend Bob Edwards. These four stalwart birders split into three groups and before first light fanned out across their assigned sectors. Regrettably, only the compiler was able to work all day.

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

The morning started off rather slow and never really produced a flurry of bird activity. Only Bonaparte's Gulls (115 individuals) reached the 100 mark--a sure sign we once again did not see big flocks of American Robins or blackbirds. Even usually ubiquitous Canada Geese (87 seen, above) and European Starlings (73) were far below their respective averages.

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

Notoriously absent were the commonest of sparrow species (Chipping, Field, Savannah, and Vesper) and except for Mallards (37, above) on Lake Wylie and a few small ponds there were no ducks to be seen. Even our expected soaring flocks of Black and Turkey Vultures never materialized during the day.

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

The best sightings were probably two Great Egrets below the Lake Wylie dam; this was only these second time we've recorded this primarily coastal species on the York/Rock Hill CBC and was our only record-high species for 2012; just one was tallied back in 2006. Two Cooper's Hawks (below) tied a record for that species established in 2003 and equaled again last year. In all, 14 other species tied or exceeded their 23-year average. (NOTE: An adult male Baltimore Oriole observed several times in Rock Hill during late December was not seen on count day.)

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

The final total of 1,259 individual birds for the 2013 York/Rock Hill Christmas Bird Count was considerably below the 23-year average of 4,691 and was our second-lowest total ever. Our 55 species this year was a bit more respectable but still below the average of 62; it was our fifth lowest species total since the count began in 1991. (See Table 1 below for a full accounting of our results.) Again, low numbers of individuals and species were due in large part to the lack of flocking birds and winter migrants--especially sparrows and ducks--and we could have used more observers to help tally.

Please mark your calendar and join us on 20 December 2014 for the upcoming 24th annual York/Rock Hill Christmas Bird Count to help us get a better census of avifauna in central York County, South Carolina.

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

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