Christmas Counts

New 2024 Audubon Count... Currently stands as 115 species for count for Count Day and Count Week

Interesting species include Sora, Merlin, Short-eared Owl, and Gray Catbird

Dallas Christmas Count - 2024

Dallas CBC 12-21-24

Historical Dallas Christmas Count Information

Obvious Mistakes from Past Years

* Plain Titmouse (55) from 1967. Pulich shows no records of this Trans-Pecos bird before or after the species split. Clearly this was a bizarre misidentification or a mammoth clerical error. Now considered "Juniper Titmouse".

* Pygmy Nuthatch (1) from 1967. Pulich shows the only PYNU record from 1966 – a year earlier and which was a bird actually collected in Irving, Texas, on December 31, 1966 by Pulich himself (WMP 1537).

* Semipalmated Sandpiper 50 from 1957 and also 26 from 1975. Both observations of multiple birds would be unheard of during a Christmas Count. A December/January record is so rare in Texas that they are reviewable by the TBRC.

* Baird’s Sandpiper (25) from 1966. Individual records in North America in December are extraordinary.

* Pectoral Sandpiper (9) from 1957. Also unbelievable for the same reason as above. Although a very few PESAs have shown up in south Texas Christmas Counts recently, none have ever shown up in North-central Texas during December\January.

* Pyrrhuloxia (221) from 1974. A very rare bird anywhere in North-central Texas. A number of 221? Someone must have been counting this west Texas bird from the window of a local bar.

Curiosities and Possible Errors

* Sage Thrasher (7) from 1957 – No records from that year (Pulich)

* Baird’s Sparrow (4) from 1961 – No records from that year (Pulich)

* Golden-fronted Woodpecker –1978, 1984. Probably misidentified

* Dickcissel (1) from 1982 (possible, but no details)

Surprise Sightings

High Numbers of Interesting Species

* Hairy Woodpecker – 22 from 1982

* Red-headed Woodpecker 14 from 1984

* Red-winged Blackbird – 613,841 from 1977 and 510,739 from 1978. (Since 1980, most individual blackbird numbers have not exceeded four figures.) 

Top Ten Dallas Counts (CD=Count Day, CW=Count Week)

2020 = 120 CD and 122 CW

2004 = 119 CD and 125 CW

2006 = 117 CD and 123 CW

2013 = 117 CD and 120 CW

2023 = 117 CD and 117 CW

2009 = 117 CD and 117 CW

2012 = 116 CD and 117 CW

2011 = 116 CD and 117 CW

2010 = 116 CD and 117 CW

2005 = 115 CD and 118 CW

2019 = 115 CD and 116 CW

Dallas Count Factoids