Each winter, Hilton Pond Center organizes and compiles the York/Rock Hill (South Carolina) Christmas Bird Count, under auspices of the National Audubon Society. This annual bird census originated 110 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 Christmas Bird Count day 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 2009 when 2,124 CBCs in the U.S. and Canada involved more than 60,000 participants who identified 661 bird species.

We started the York/Rock Hill count in 1991 to help provide a snapshot of numbers and species of birds present in central York County during winter. 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) and 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.) Participants are assigned one or more of the circle's 11 sectors and are expected to spend the day covering the area(s) by car and on foot--perhaps even by canoe or bicycle! This year our local CBC--normally held the Saturday before Christmas--had to be moved to Wednesday, 5 January because of unforeseen conflicts; this was the final date of the official Christmas Bird Count period and was the first time our York/Rock Hill count had not been held in December. As feared, changing the date to mid-week made it difficult for some long-time counters to come out--as was reflected in count results.

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

Count founder and compiler Bill Hilton Jr. (a participant on all 20 York/Rock Hill CBCs), Faye Metzl (12-year veteran), and first-timer Betty Beamguard assembled at 6:15 a.m. in Rock Hill at the Burger King on S.C. 5, ate breakfast, got assignments and tally sheets, and spread out to their assigned sectors in an attempt to reach prime observation sites before daylight. The count started out mostly cloudy, with a slight breeze out of the north, and a nippy temperature of 25 degrees--although Hilton Pond and other standing water were not frozen. As dawn broke (above), a brilliant blood-red sunrise reminded us that results for this year's 20th anniversary count might not be turn out well if we believed that old saying "Red sky at night, sailor's delight; red sky in morning, sailors take warning." Following several hours in the field the crew gathered again at lunch, after which Gail Driscoll (three-year veteran) took over for Betty and the observers headed out for afternoon counting. By suppertime it was too dark to see any birds, so field observers convened one more time at Burger King to go over final tallies.

Although fewer participants guarantees less coverage for the count circle and typically leads to reduced numbers of species and individual birds seen, it was obvious from the start on 5 January that this was destined to be a particularly slow year. None of the observers encountered big groups of birds where they usually occur, and previously reliable waterfowl assemblages at Lake Wylie's Ebenezer Landing and elsewhere were almost non-existent. Birds we had staked out for weeks prior to the count suddenly disappeared. With things going so poorly, we resorted to a tried and true method of adding species and numbers to the Christmas Count list: At mid-morning we drove back out to Hilton Pond Center--which conveniently (and intentionally) sits just inside the western edge of the count circle--and looked out the window of the old farmhouse at our usually productive bird feeders.

Bingo!

All text, tables & photos © Hilton Pond Center

The Center's big tube feeders--which the night before we had loaded carefully with fresh black sunflower seed--were being visited by at least one bird from numerous species: House Finch, Purple Finch, Carolina Chickadee, American Goldfinch, Eastern Tufted Titmouse, Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Northern Cardinal (banded male above). Three birds--a female Downy Woodpecker, a bright yellow Pine Warbler, and a perky Carolina Wren--were all vying for position on one of the suet feeders. On the ground beneath, Mourning Doves, White-throated Sparrows, and a solitary Dark-eyed Junco were cleaning up uneaten scraps, and a rusty-tailed Hermit Thrush hopped in to bathe in the water garden. But that wasn't all . . . .

The 20th annual York/Rock Hill Christmas Bird Count ended at dusk on 5 January 2011 with only 52 species and 1,007 individuals on the tally sheet (see complete results in Table 1 below). Both results were 20-year lows for the count, less than both the old records of 1,465 individuals set last year and 52 species set in 1997. This year's bird total was far below the all-time record high of 12,945 from 1994 (when large flocks of Cedar Waxwings and American Robins filled the tally sheets), and less than the 80-species total from 1980. Our average number of individual birds over 20 years is 5,105 with an average of 65.6 species; this year's numbers were considerably less in both categories.

All text, tables & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Pine Siskins (as a new count bird) and those four Common Snipe were the only species to exceed previous highs this year, while the our one House Wren tied the high for its species. Only six species were at or above the 20-year York/Rock Hill CBC average: American Coot, Purple Finch, Great Blue Heron (above), Common Loon, House Sparrow, and Pileated Woodpecker; all others were below average and in some cases were completely absent. A Bald Eagle was observed within the count circle during count week but not on the actual day of the count.

Of our 51 species recorded on the 2010 count, 29 have been observed on every one of the 20 York/Rock Hill CBCs. However, four old stalwarts--Eastern Meadowlark, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Towhee, and Yellow-rumped Warbler--let us down this year for the first time. Also conspicuous in their absence were There are Brown Thrasher, most waterfowl (especially Hooded Merganser), various sparrows, and the accipiter hawks.

There's no question we weren't able to cover the count area with so few counters--help us out next time on 17 December 2011--but as more and more acreage surrounding Hilton Pond Center gets covered by asphalt and subdivisions we're guessing numbers and kinds of birds seen year-to-year on the York/Rock Hill Christmas Bird Count will continue to decline no matter how many folks participate.