Community Science
Bird populations are constantly changing. No scientist or team of scientists could possibly track the complicated patterns of movement of species around the world. That’s where community scientists - like you! - can help!
Photo: Emily Pollom
Annual Bird Counts & Community Science Projects
Winter Raptor Survey: January (dates set locally)
Great Backyard Bird Count: February
City Nature Challenge: April
Global Big Day: 2nd Saturday in May
NestWatch: Spring/Summer
The Big Sit! First weekend in October
October Big Day: 2nd Saturday in October
Project FeederWatch: 2nd Saturday in Nov; runs for 21 weeks
Christmas Bird Count: December (dates set locally)
See Cornell’s Bird Counting 101 for accurate bird count strategies!
Our chapter supports several local Community Science Projects: two local Christmas Bird Counts, a Winter Raptor Survey, a Cliff Swallow Monitoring Project, and the City Nature Challenge. Read on to learn more… and please reach out if you’d like to participate!
Christmas Bird Counts
The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) has been conducted for well over 100 years. The National Audubon Society collects data from this massive community science effort to count and record bird numbers every December. *Visit Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count Trends Viewer to explore population trends over time.*
Gila River Christmas Bird Count
2024 Gila River Christmas Bird Count, Linda Moore–Compiler
The Gila River Christmas Bird Count was conducted on December 28, 2024. The day dawned sunny and cold, with temperatures ranging from 19 to 57 degrees and calm winds. Twenty-two participants covered nine established routes along the Gila River, generating total ‘party hours and distance' (the total time and miles each party spent in the field) of 59.25 hours and 96.5 miles.
With the ongoing drought I was unsure what to expect, but I did not expect the number of birds seen. The total number of taxa/species was 104, which is a high average for the past five years, with the lowest being 92 and the highest 105. The number of individual birds counted was 6593, much higher than anything in the past 5 years. Previously the lowest number of individual birds counted in the past five years was 3456 in 2021, and the highest was 5215 in 2022. It appears the Gila River is a much needed resource for water during the drought.
Two Winter/Pacific wrens and a Williamson’s Sapsucker were the rarities counted. Many species were at the highest levels recorded since this count began back in 1972. These include: Western Bluebird, Yellow- rumped Warbler, Red-naped Sapsucker, Hairy Woodpecker, Black and Say’s Phoebes. Tied for highest number were White-winged Dove and Wild Turkey.
Now the question is – is that a good thing or a bad thing? Hopefully future counts will help answer that question.
Past Gila River Christmas Bird Counts
2023 Gila River CBC — Linda Moore, Compiler
2022 Gila River CBC — Linda Moore, Compiler
2021 Gila River CBC — Linda Moore Compiler
Silver City Christmas Bird Count
2024 Silver City Christmas Bird Count, John Gorey–Compiler
Nearly 50 people helped out with this year’s Silver City Bird Count, held December 21, 2024; that number includes our highest route participation (38) of all time!
Our total species count (96) was much higher than the average (79), though the total number of individual birds counted (4358) was well below average (5223). Interestingly, low individual counts tend to follow unusually high counts the year previous.
The top ten species list included perennial sightings: Western bluebird, Brewer’s blackbird, Gambel’s quail, White-crowned sparrow, Dark-eyed junco, House finch, Bushtit, Woodhouse’s scrub jay, Raven, and American robin. Unusual sightings included Verdin, Hutton’s vireo, Peregrine and Prairie falcons, Broad-billed hummingbird, Sandhill crane, Pie-billed grebe, and Long-eared owl. Sparrows were low again this year. Another species that seems to be missing is Cassin’s finch. They’ve been almost non-existent for the last two winters.
Thank you to all of those who participated in this important work this year. We encourage all members to get involved in the next count!
Click here for the full 2024 SC CBC report.
Past Silver City Christmas Bird Counts
2023 Silver City CBC — John Gorey, Compiler
2022 Silver City CBC — John Gorey, Compiler
2021 Silver City CBC — John Gorey, Compiler
2020 Silver City CBC — John Gorey, Compiler
2016 - 17 Silver City CBC - Roland Shook, Compiler
Winter Raptor Survey
Illustration: Jackie Blurton
The survey is done in conjunction with the Hawk Migration Association of North America, and is a community science project focused on better understanding of the wintering population of raptors in North America. This survey is done by vehicle, and some of the routes are well over 100 miles. Typically the routes have established leaders and helpers, but there are often empty spaces in a vehicle for others to participate. The routes are surveyed on one of the three days, providing the opportunity to choose the best day weather-wise. Each route is standardized with no variation allowed.
If you are interested in participating, contact organizer Linda Moore.
2025 Winter Raptor Survey, Linda Moore - Compiler
The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend in January is the time designated for the Winter Raptor Survey in our area. Teams travel nine pre-determined routes, scanning for wintering raptors, recording species, GPS coordinates where seen, and details about the sighting. This information is provided to the Hawk Migration Association, an organization dedicated to raptor research.
As usual, some routes produced a lot more raptors than others. One of the southern routes that was mostly devoid of raptors last year recorded a significant increase this year due to irrigated fields. On this particular route the number of Ferruginous hawks outnumbered that of Red-tailed hawks, a very unusual occurrence. Other routes where the grasslands have been decimated by drought produced few birds. In total, there were 10 species recorded and 194 birds counted. This is less than the average number of the past five years, which is a little higher than 250 birds and 12 species. It is still above the lowest count in 2021, when only 135 raptors were counted in 9 species. The highest count per species this year went to Red- tailed hawks (106). Second place went to American kestrels (43), and third place to Ferruginous hawks (15), with 13 counted around those irrigated fields.
Loggerhead shrikes and Greater roadrunners are also counted as was done historically, but that data is not sent to the HMA. This year a total of 50 shrikes and 4 roadrunners were counted, which is relatively close to average for both.
The volunteer teams contributed 49 total hours and drove well over 1000 miles, and that was after they had arrived at their often distant beginning point. A huge thank you goes out to all those who participated! Indeed, I greatly appreciate you all!
Click here for the full 2025 report
Past Winter Raptor Counts
2024 Winter Raptor Count — Linda Moore, Compiler
2023 Winter Raptor Count — Linda Moore, Compiler
2020 Winter Raptor Count — Linda Moore, Compiler
Cliff Swallow Monitoring
Photo: Carol Ann Fugagli
Our local Cliff Swallow monitoring project on the Western New Mexico University campus in Silver City documents the breeding success of these birds. For several years, trained volunteers have observed and recorded the breeding biology of returning Cliff Swallows to estimate the number of young fledged from nests located on campus buildings.
We encourage volunteers for this important project, and you don’t need to be an experienced birder to participate.
If you are interested in adopting a building to monitor either on or off campus, please contact Carol Ann Fugagli.
Cliff Swallow Monitoring Reports
2022 Report - Carol Ann Fugagli
2021 Report - Carol Ann Fugagli
City Nature Challenge
To celebrate Earth Day, Silver City Watershed Keepers organizes a City Nature Challenge (CNC) in Silver City and the broader Grant County area. The CNC happens annually, with community scientists around the world working to record as many species as possible during a four day span.
Why participate? It's critical for our community to know the wildlife that also call our watershed home. This event emphasizes the role that towns and cities play in affecting biodiversity and invites people of all ages and abilities to explore nature in their backyards, city parks, and beyond.
Observations made during the CNC will be publicly available on the iNaturalist database (inaturalist.org) and app*. These observations can be viewed by those in our community, then used in schools for biology lessons, by local governments and conservation organizations to monitor invasive species or ecosystem health, and by scientists to define species’ ranges, migration corridors, and inter-relationships.
How can Bird Alliance members get involved? We'll be looking for folks who know the birds in our region and/or for those willing to take photos or audio recordings of birds to post to iNaturalist.
This year’s dates are April 25-28, 2025. Please contact us if you’d like to take part!