25th 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 115 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 the U.S. alone!

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), 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 one or more area(s) by car and on foot--perhaps even by canoe or bicycle! This year our Silver Anniversary York/Rock Hill CBC--typically held the Saturday before Christmas if weather allows--was implemented on 19 December.

Our 2015 count started out a bit chilly: At 6:30 a.m. the thermometer read 27°F, with perfectly clear skies but no frozen water except at the edges of shallow puddles. Despite advance publicity for our 25th annual count, just four participants showed up: Second-time counter Tom Anderson, long-time veteran Bob Olson (our second-most-faithful counter with 18 years), Faye Metzl (15 years), and founder/compiler Bill Hilton Jr. (all 25 counts). These stalwart birders split into three parties 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

Our first bird of the day was a usually elusive Barred Owl (above), perched in pre-dawn darkness on a utility wire along SC Hwy 5 between Rock Hill and York; the bird's silhouette with big round head was unmistakable even in bad light. We saw 53 species by lunchtime—not quite half the 110 we'd observed on at least one of our previous counts. Observers did add several species in the afternoon and ended up with 62 altogether—a little less than our 25-year-average of 64 and ‘way below our record of 80 set back in 2000.

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

The final count of individual birds was a disappointing 1,260--only about half of our 25-year average of 4,479. This was due in part to having only four observers to cover the entire 15-mile diameter circle, but also because we never encountered one of those nomadic winter flocks of miscellaneous blackbirds or American Robins (above) that can swell our numbers appreciably.

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

The near-absence of winter finches--some of which may not appear in the Carolina Piedmont until January or later--didn't help our numbers, and waterfowl were exceedingly scarce; a raft if seven stiff-tailed Ruddy Ducks (above) were our only divers, and the only puddlers were Mallards. Also affecting overall numbers of local birds, of course, is the ever-decreasing amount of habitat in York County as commercial and residential development has expanded dramatically--sometimes catastrophically--during the past 25 years.

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

Habitat loss hasn't really stopped Canada Geese, however, and they turned out to be our most commonly observed species with 185 individuals. Second were 177 of those winter-plumage Bonaparte's Gulls that hang out during the non-breeding season on open waters of Lake Wylie. Despite overall low numbers, 19 species equaled or slightly surpassed their 25-year average (see Table 1 below), but none set new record highs in 2015.

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

Getting two owl species--Barred and Great Horned--was a bit unusual for the York/Rock Hill count; we also picked up our first Northern Harrier (a female, above) since 2009. Of 62 species this year, 25 have appeared on every count since we began in 1991.

Please take time to peruse Table 1 below for a full accounting of the official results from our 2015 survey. Then mark your calendar and join Hilton Pond Center and other participants for the 26th annual York/Rock Hill Christmas Bird Count scheduled for Saturday, 17 December 2016. 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

Fox Sparrow and American Goldfinch (above), both species seen
on the 2015 York/Rock Hill (SC) Christmas Bird Count

Checks can be sent to Hilton Pond Center at:
1432 DeVinney Road
York SC 29745

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