Results #125

Results from the Count

Edmonton has been continuously participating
in this citizen science project since 1955.

Edmonton holds the all-time, world record for number of participants!
And we're the Black-capped Chickadee capital of Canada.

Our World records:
PARTICIPATION World Record: Count #88 = 1287 total includes 135 Bushbeaters and 1153 Feeder Watchers (Dec 1987)
Boreal Owl: Count #106 = 8 birds (Dec 2005)
Black-billed Magpie: Count #121 = 3,447 birds (Dec 2020)
Bohemian Waxwing: Count #106 = 35,298 birds (Dec 2005)
Our Canadian Records
Downy Woodpecker: Count #116 = 568 birds (Dec 2015)
Pileated Woodpecker: Count #122 = 86 birds (Dec 2021)
Blue Jay: Count #89 = 1,598 birds (Dec 1988)
Black-capped Chickadee: Count #104 = 6,239 birds (Dec 2003)
Canadian and World record updates become available in the following year’s report.

The Audubon website allows you to search for results by year* and for any specific count including Edmonton. Historical Results
*The Count season occurs between December 14 and January 5 every year. Audubon's Count number reflects the year of the January completion.

About Us
How did our Christmas Bird count get started and who was our first counter? How have the Count and our birds changed over the years? How did we achieve a World record and why is participation important? Find the answers to these questions and more in our Library .

Audubon Count Year #125 (December 14, 2024 through January 5, 2025)
These once-a-year Counts occur in many countries within the prescribed date range.

The Edmonton Count was held on Sunday, December 15th 2024.

Thank you to each of our participants, new and returning, who continue this tradition!

Read on to explore this season's results, rarities, and the visual treats sent in by our bird counters.

"We Found an Owl" - original artwork by Zach Greene in collaboration with Jan Wijmenga

Last season, our Count historian Geoff Holroyd challenged us to find 50 species. There was extra effort made in learning about identification, methodology and target species which translated to an exciting total of 53 species. How did we do this time??

Feeder watchers and bush beaters were organized and encouraged by their zone captains to cover the count circle. Folks were reminded to review birds and protocol prior to count day. The result was that participants were able to tally 42 of the 43 "A List" expected species, an excellent start to this year's list of recorded birds. Reports continued into difficult "B" and rare "C" species. Rarities were mostly submitted with a rare bird report form so they should be accepted by Birds Canada for our list. Well done!

A cold overnight with freezing fog led to an overcast morning which eventually cleared for better visibility in the afternoon. Temperatures were in the minus 12 to minus 7 range, pleasant walking for hardy Edmontonians prepared for winter trail conditions.

Folks enjoyed seeing lots of White-winged Crossbills throughout the circle, this was the most abundant winter finch this count. There was open water on the river, although the diversity of duck species was limited. Waterfowl and their predator species such as eagles, falcons and other raptors may be exhibiting reduced numbers due to the ongoing issue of avian flu in some populations but we did have a nice variety of these birds reported.

The count circle zones vary in size and habitat style. Over the past few years there has been quite a bit of construction of new residential neighbourhoods and increased pressure on our natural areas. What birds are successful in our city environment? All zones reported the following species: Rock Pigeon (zone 10 only had one!), Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-billed Magpie, Common Raven, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch (zone 11 counted 1 only), House Sparrow and House Finch. Only zone 7 missed White-winged Crossbill (in a year of plenty) but they did have Dark-eyed Junco which was missed only by zone 11, a mostly industrial area.

As Geoff Holroyd mentioned in his Birds of Christmas presentation, there are a few counts creeping up on our participation numbers. Feel free to encourage your friends and neighbours (maybe there are some with feeders) to register and participate in 2025!

A List: "One of Many" White-winged Crossbill by Kevin Godfrey

A List: "Yes, we have winter robins!" American Robin by David Fielder

A List: "When the birds come to you" Red-breasted Nuthatch by Andy Ross

The Edmonton Nature Club extends a special shout-out to Nature Alberta (NA) and their Nature Kids program which provided opportunities for families, youth and new birders to participate on Count day. Nature Alberta managed approx. 65 bush beaters reporting as a single party! A huge thank you to the folks organizing and assisting to help our event be more inclusive!

"Multigenerational Birding" by Doris May (backpack cardinal not counted)

White-breasted Nuthatch, "A Group Favourite" by Joel Weatherly

"It's only a Common" Goldeneye by Nick Carter

White-winged Crossbill by Joel Weatherley

Count and Zone Highlights:

The open water on the river hosted hundreds of Mallards and Common Goldeneye ducks, particularly in the northeast zones of 7 and 8. Patient spotters looked in vain for super rarities but did add B list Lesser Scaup, Common Merganser and a couple of C list rare Bufflehead. Zone 2 found Canada Goose (2).
Ruffed Grouse is barely hanging on in the increasingly urbanized habitat. Two were found in zone 1 which is the south section of the circle currently seeing new construction.
Folks in Zone 6 viewed 4 Bald Eagles soaring together, there were more along the river. A single Sharp-shinned Hawk was counted thanks to zone 9. Zone 11 (north and northwest in the circle) and a couple of others saw American Goshawk. The C list Peregrine Falcon was a great find in zone 12! It's probably been hunting the ducks seen there.
A variety of owls, A and B list, were scattered throughout the circle and our expert nocturnal crew added a few to those seen during the day. A couple of daytime counters were lucky enough to come across C list Northern Hawk-Owl. There are quite a few in the Edmonton region this winter.
After a few years of no sightings, an A List Three-toed Woodpecker (1) was counted by the folks in zone 1. For our B List Black-backed Woodpecker, both zone 3 and zone 1 had one. Other woodpecker numbers remain stable. Zone 4 was notable for having the highest Pileated Woodpecker number, Zone 10 (southwest) had lots of Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers as well as Northern Flickers. Zone 10 is also seeing a lot of new construction which will impact bird habitat.
Zone 15 (west side of the circle) helped with Gray Partridge and Black-billed Magpie, they also had a good number of Black-capped Chickadee s.
The only A lister missed this year was Cedar Waxwing. A variety of the other expected winter birds such as Bohemian Waxwing, Redpoll and Pine Grosbeak were present only in small numbers in some zones. White-winged Crossbill was everywhere! Counters did well to decipher a few Red Crossbill (B) in zones 5 and 14 (central). Report continues below...

C List: Bufflehead by David Fielder

B List Barred Owl by Berta Beltran

"Sheltering" by Berta Berltran

Birding Challenges: Can you identify these?

by Miriam Qureshi

by Lisa Takats Priestley

by Doug Spaner

More Count Highlights:

Zone 6 had the most wintering American Robins. Zone 5 found the only Northern Shrike for the day.
European Starling , our big miss last year, was almost a no-show again. Only 4 birds were found ( zone 13 South). Last year was the first time since 1955 that we didn't have the species on our Count!
We were able to confirm the sighting of a single Purple Finch in zone 13 North thanks to the sighting detail which included good identification markers. Zone 12 reported the most House Finches (200) as well as the most House Sparrows (847).
An American Goldfinch (B) was added during a feeder watch in a central zone.
A late addition to the data is Spotted Towhee. Visiting a feeder on December 13, but a no-show on count day, it's been accepted as a count week bird now that the feeder watcher has managed a photo (further down the page). Geoff has advised that it's the 2nd record of a towhee on the Edmonton CBC. A single towhee was reported on the Dec 1978 count.
The rarest bird added for the records was found by an enthusiastic young birder walking with his grandparents. His keen eye spotted the bird amid the low branches of a fruiting shrub and he documented it with his camera. This is the first ever record of Hermit Thrush on our Edmonton Christmas count! Photo further down page. Report continues...

Black-billed Magpies (Edmonton holds the World record.) by Melissa Dowdell

Zone 1 view by Mariam Qureshi

Magpie counted by Mariam Qureshi

B List: American Goldfinch by Faye Smith

Participants tallied 42 of 43 A listers as well as 7 additional species from the "B list" of difficult birds and continued into the "Rare bird" category for another 4, including 1 new species, bringing the total to 53. Well done everyone!

Edmonton Christmas Bird Count Final Results for Sunday, December 15th 2024.

Participation and total numbers:
# of Bush beaters: 275
# of Feeder watchers: 244
Total Participants: 517
Total # of Birds: 19,406
Total Species: 53

Results compiled by:
Ann Carter, Event coordinator
Statistics by:
Geoff Holroyd, Count historian

Note: *Some species totals may be adjusted as per Birds Canada protocols.

“A List” Expected Bird Species: 42 out of 43 species
Canada Goose 2
Mallard 735*
Common Goldeneye 85*
Ruffed Grouse 2
Gray Partridge 35
Rock Pigeon 1783
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 2
Northern Goshawk 3
Bald Eagle 8*
Great Horned Owl 9
N. Saw-whet Owl 7
Three-toed Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 396
Hairy Woodpecker 42
Pileated Woodpecker 69
Northern Flicker 90
Merlin 26
Northern Shrike 1
Blue Jay 382
Black-billed Magpie 2609
American Crow 49
Common Raven 373

"A List" continued
Black-capped Chickadee 2213
Boreal Chickadee 23
Golden-crowned Kinglet 6
Red-breasted Nuthatch 664
White-breasted Nuthatch 268
Brown Creeper 7
European Starling 4
Townsend's Solitaire 5
American Robin 56
Bohemian Waxwing 294
Cedar Waxwing ZERO
House Sparrow 5230
Pine Grosbeak 28
House Finch 1578
Purple Finch 1
Common Redpoll 223
White-winged Crossbill 949
Pine Siskin 130
Dark-eyed Junco 190
White-throated Sparrow 33

"B List” Difficult To Find    Bird Species:
Total of 7 species (25 individual birds)
Lesser Scaup 3
Common Merganser 5
Barred Owl 3
Boreal Owl 1
Black-backed Woodpecker 2
Red Crossbill 10
American Goldfinch 1

“C List” Rare Species:
Total of 4 species (5 individual birds)
Bufflehead 2
Northern Hawk Owl 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Spotted Towhee cw
New Count Species:
Hermit Thrush 1 winter rarity

Wondering how your zone did? See the file below. Please note we do not disclose the location of sensitive species/birds.

These files may take a few moments to open, remember to scroll down for more zones and across for more birds.
ZONE RESULTS for viewing or zone results for download EXCEL FILE
Noticed an error or omission? Contact: [email protected]

Winter Rarity, Hermit Thrush, found and photographed by Taylor, a young birder with a keen eye!

RARE Bird: Hermit Thrush by Taylor S.

Spotted Towhee. Feeder watcher Ross H. did a great job of documenting the details of behavior, pattern and colours . The photo shows the proportionately long tail to confirm a Towhee and is a good reminder that any photo may be helpful.