NOTE: I'm still working on my photo essay about our November 2014 Operation RubyThroat hummingbird expedition to Ujarrás in Costa Rica. It takes a while to process, organize, and compile all the images and data--a task complicated by my recent hernia surgery and other factors. When ready--soon, I hope--I'll post it as Installment #609. I apologize for the delay--especially to this year's trip participants. Meanwhile, I wanted to disseminate official results of the annual York/Rock Hill Christmas Bird Count, provided below.

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

In other news, I'm pleased that on 9 Dec CN2 television in Rock Hill SC honored me as a "Hometown Hero" for my on-going work as an educator-naturalist and hummingbird researcher. Mia Macy did a nice job of putting together a 2.5-minute video about all this. To view the footage in a new browser window, see Birds Of A Feather.

Finally, I hope you will consider supporting the education, research, and conservation initiatives of Hilton Pond Center--including Operation RubyThroat and our "This Week at Hilton Pond" photo essays--by making a tax-deductible end-of-year contribution. You can donate via your PayPal account to funding@hiltonpond.org, or make a secure credit card gift via Network for Good. "Good ol' fashioned" paper checks are also welcome, of course, at 1432 DeVinney Road, York SC 29745.

BILL HILTON JR.

24th ANNUAL YORK/ROCK HILL (SC)
CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT

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

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 114 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, and 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.)

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

The count circle includes all of Hilton Pond Center (above, with our fallen White Oak giant), as well as a mix of urban/suburban/rural habitats and large sections of southern Lake Wylie 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--typically held the Saturday before Christmas if weather allows--was scheduled for and implemented on 20 December.

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

Our 2014 count was a little chillier than most: A 6:30 a.m. temperature of 40 degree F, with morning drizzle and dreary skies but no frozen water. The good news was we had six count participants--more than in the past several years. On hand were (above, left to right) first-time counter Tom Anderson, second-timer Charles Payne, long-time veteran Bob Olson (our second-most-faithful counter with 17 years), first-timer Rob Oesterle, Faye Metzl (14 years), and count founder/compiler Bill Hilton Jr. (all 24 years). These stalwart birders split into several groups and before first light fanned out across their assigned sectors. Regrettably, only Bob and the compiler were able to work all day.

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

The day started slowly with birds hunkering down in light rain. We saw only 51 species by lunchtime—not quite half the 110 species we had observed on at least one of our previous counts. Our first bird of the day was a well-named White-throated Sparrow (above), foraging at dawn beneath feeders at Hilton Pond Center. Observers did add several harder-to-find species in the afternoon and ended up with 60 altogether—a little less than our 23-year-average of 64 and ‘way below our record of 80 set back in 2000.

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

One particular reward this year was the sighting of a Baltimore Oriole feeding on tree fruit at Cherry Park--the first time this species has been seen in the history of the York/Rock Hill count. (Winter photo of immature female above courtesy David Speiser.) BAOR are nectar- and fruit-eating birds that typically migrate to the Neotropics but with increasing regularity have been overwintering in the continental U.S. (We contend this is yet another indication of global climate change--a phenomenon whose validity appears to be borne out by Christmas Bird Count data across North America.)

Participants tallied 2,811 individual birds this year; the 24-year average is about twice that with 4,613. In 2014 we had no huge assemblages of gulls, blackbirds, robins, and other flocking birds that sometimes swell our numbers. Even so, of this year’s 60 species, 27 were seen in numbers equal to or above average.

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

We like to point out that although the purpose of the bird count is to see how many species and individuals can be tallied, participants have plenty of time to observe bird behavior. In one case, we watched a Great Blue Heron fishing in slow-motion (above) from the banks of Winthrop Farm Lake off Cherry Road in Rock Hill. It always seems like herons spend an inordinate amount of time stalking, but if one watches long enough . . .

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

. . . one may be treated to the sight of a long-legged wader actually diving into the water (above). Our heron hit and exited the pond in the blink of an eye and gulped down a good-sized fish--likely a Bluegill or Largemouth Bass--before sauntering out of view.

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

The 2014 count set a record for sightings of Chipping Sparrow (above)--136 this year, up from a previous high of 103 in 2002. This was especially interesting because we had only five chippies last year. (It's probably not just coincidental we're also having a record-high this year for banding Chipping Sparrows at Hilton Pond Center.) Bird count observers set a record for Southern Bald Eagle (3, up from 2) in 2014; this once-endangered species has expanded its range and is now well-established on lakes and rivers of York County--where it fortunately seems to have adapted fairly well to the presence of humans. We had mixed feelings about this year's new record of 48 for House Sparrows, an invasive species that displaces native cavity-nesting birds such as bluebirds, wrens, and woodpeckers. And speaking of the latter, 2014 was a disappointing year for woodpecker sightings with only 49 individuals of seven possible species on the count, but 41 of those were Red-bellied Woodpeckers (male, above right)--a new high for that species.

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

One good thing about this bird survey in the same place at the same time of year, year after year, is that it allows us to look at trends. Despite finding one new species . . . setting a new high for four others . . . and being above average for 27 species . . . our observations reveal bird numbers for most species have been dropping steadily since the York/Rock Hill count began in 1991. Many birds once quite common in this area weren’t seen at all this year, including most of the ducks and sparrows. Except for Red-shouldered Hawks (adult, above, perching on one leg at sunrise across from Hilton Pond Center), most raptors have shown a steady drop in numbers over the past 24 years; it's not a good sign when birds at the top of the food chain are in decline.

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

We're confident in saying the biggest reason for such declines is loss of natural areas across York County. Where once we roamed forested areas and old farms we now encounter subdivisions, commercial initiatives, and huge swaths of parking lots compatible with very few bird species. Even the fog-shrouded banks of the Catawba River (above)--once a relatively pristine waterway--have not been immune to development. Economic growth is important, but ever-smaller tallies during our Christmas count tell us York County MUST do much, much more to set aside substantial green expanses that support birds and other wildlife. (It’s worth mentioning people need and thrive in green space, too.)

See Table 1 below for a full accounting of the official results from our 2014 survey. Then mark your calendar and join Hilton Pond Center and other participants for the 25th anniversary York/Rock Hill Christmas Bird Count on 19 December 2015. No experience necessary--just binoculars and a desire to help get an even more accurate census of avifauna in central York County, South Carolina.

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

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