The Redding Christmas Bird Count was a great success on Saturday, December 29!
We nearly broke the 34-year record for number of species--126, just 3 shy of the
all-time record of 129 species tallied in 1991. We achieved this number in spite
of bad weather---mixed rain and snow all day with real blizzard conditions at
the higher elevations around Whiskeytown and Shasta Lakes. Several participants
said that they couldn't see anything from their cars so had to get out and walk.
That's probably why we had such a high count. Twenty-six participants broke into
10 teams with the following results:

High number of individuals were tallied for:
Wood Duck-32
Mallard-588
Hooded Merganser-71
Pied-billed Grebe-146
Black-crowned Night-Heron-7

Unusual species were:
Says' Phoebe
Pygmy Nuthatch
Western Gull
Townsend's Warbler
American Bittern (a first record)
House Wren
Virginia Rail

By far the most spectacular sighting was the 14 Townsend's Warblers seen at
Whiskeytown Lake

Happy New Year,
Bill Oliver, Compiler

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