Beautiful fall scene along the American River at SLP. Photo by JoEllen Arnold
FORB has been a part of this important survey effort for over 5 years now as "Team Otter". This year it was necessary to take extra precautions but several members of the team (JoEllen and Dale) were able to spend a few hours individually counting birds and other wildlife again.
The combined count has been entered into eBird where it is added to other count areas and data for the American River Parkway. This citizen science effort is helpful with trends and species abundance. This year it felt like recent habitat impacts at SLP might have contributed to lower numbers of songbirds and the overall species count. Here's the summary from Team Otter:
2020 ARNHA Wildlife Count Checklist Team Otter
12/6/20 Time: 8-10 AM 3 miles walked 29 species, 369 individuals
12/5/20 Approximately 1.2 miles walked over 2 hrs
18 Species observed +1 other taxa 448 individuals
(💥 indicates species only seen by one observer)
(12/6 count first, 12/5 count second)
40/51 Canada Goose
💥11 Tundra Swan
12/12 Mallard
4/14 Bufflehead
10/30 Common Goldeneye
8/2 Common Merganser
💥50 Rock Pigeon
💥6 Morning Dove
💥1 Anna's Hummingbird
💥2 Pied-billed Grebe
25/1 Killdeer
7 California Gull
15 gull sp.
4/2 Double-crested Cormorant
💥1 Snowy Egret
💥1 Green Heron
💥1 Turkey Vulture
💥1 White-tailed Kite
💥1 Belted Kingfisher
💥1 Downy Woodpecker
2 Northern Flicker
5/1 Black Phoebe
💥1 Say's Phoebe
6/1 Scrub Jay
💥5 Yellow-billed Magpie
36/210 American Crow
💥1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
💥25 Bushtit
30/3 Starling
4/6 White-crowned Sparrow
💥5 Golden-crowned Sparrow
💥1 Lincoln's Sparrow
💥20 Western Meadowlark
50/90 Brewer's Blackbird
💥2 Yellow-rumped Warbler
(35 species seen over 2 days of survey)
2 Coyotes on mound. 75+ youth for group run event staged at SLP. Less ground cover habitat present due to illegal activities which appeared to reduce the number of observations. (12/6)
The combined count has been entered into eBird where it is added to other count areas and data for the American River Parkway. This citizen science effort is helpful with trends and species abundance. This year it felt like recent habitat impacts at SLP might have contributed to lower numbers of songbirds and the overall species count. Here's the summary from Team Otter:
2020 ARNHA Wildlife Count Checklist Team Otter
12/6/20 Time: 8-10 AM 3 miles walked 29 species, 369 individuals
12/5/20 Approximately 1.2 miles walked over 2 hrs
18 Species observed +1 other taxa 448 individuals
(💥 indicates species only seen by one observer)
(12/6 count first, 12/5 count second)
40/51 Canada Goose
💥11 Tundra Swan
12/12 Mallard
4/14 Bufflehead
10/30 Common Goldeneye
8/2 Common Merganser
💥50 Rock Pigeon
💥6 Morning Dove
💥1 Anna's Hummingbird
💥2 Pied-billed Grebe
25/1 Killdeer
7 California Gull
15 gull sp.
4/2 Double-crested Cormorant
💥1 Snowy Egret
💥1 Green Heron
💥1 Turkey Vulture
💥1 White-tailed Kite
💥1 Belted Kingfisher
💥1 Downy Woodpecker
2 Northern Flicker
5/1 Black Phoebe
💥1 Say's Phoebe
6/1 Scrub Jay
💥5 Yellow-billed Magpie
36/210 American Crow
💥1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
💥25 Bushtit
30/3 Starling
4/6 White-crowned Sparrow
💥5 Golden-crowned Sparrow
💥1 Lincoln's Sparrow
💥20 Western Meadowlark
50/90 Brewer's Blackbird
💥2 Yellow-rumped Warbler
(35 species seen over 2 days of survey)
2 Coyotes on mound. 75+ youth for group run event staged at SLP. Less ground cover habitat present due to illegal activities which appeared to reduce the number of observations. (12/6)
An organized but not permitted youth group run took place during the count too
Yellow-billed magpies made an appearance this year
Not part of the wildlife or counted
One of two coyotes seen hunting on the landfill mound
Belted kingfisher about to resume hunting for breakfast
Tundra swans flew over at the right time. How many do you count?
Not part of the count but this Goldeneye (?) was recently found dead under transmission lines near I-80 across the river from SLP
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