Nokesville results: 123rd annual Christmas Bird Count

Lows of 25 °F surely made this year's 123rd annual Christmas Birrrrd Count a cold one. It didn't deter our 24 birders that spent the morning participating in the longest-running citizen science project. Nine teams surveyed the Nokesville circle and identified 80 species, just topping last year's number of 79. >>see results here

Highlights of the December 27th, Nokesville Christmas Bird Count include a Common Loon seen in Quantico and 32 Redheads, which is a count high. Corvids were quite conspicuous with both American Crow and Fish Crow reaching a high for our circle at 491 and 934 respectively. We also saw a few lows for our count including Black Vulture, Red-winged Blackbird, and White-crowned Sparrow. 

Now in its 123rd year, the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is the oldest and largest citizen science event in existence. The National Audubon Society leads the effort, compiles data nationwide, and makes the results available to all on their website here. 

All CBC Circles cover a 15-mile diameter circle (113,000 acres). The information collected by citizen scientists provides a snapshot showing what birds were found on one particular winter day over many years. 

The Nokesville count circle (see map), centered at Merrimac Farm WMA, covers a diverse landscape at the edge of the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area and captures the transition from coastal plain to piedmont ecosystems.  

It extends from the Prince William County landfill on Route 234 to Nokesville Proper, and from the Lunga Reservior near I-95 to Catlett in Fauquier County. The count circle includes portions of Prince William Forest [National] Park, Manassas Airport and large areas within MCB Quantico. 

Parks and conservation areas include Merrimac Farm WMA, the Cedar Run Wetland Bank, Foggy Bottom Wetland Bank, Dove's Landing Mitigation Area, Nokesville Park, Brentsville Courthouse, Bristoe Battlefield Park and Hellwig Park. 

Big thank you to our team leaders: Tody Hardwick, Claudia Thompson-Deahl, Nancy Vehrs, Jim Goehring, Larry Meade, Dave Govoni, Tim Stamps, and Dave Larsen!