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
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
Red-throated Loon from 2017 - Details and photograph.
Rough-legged Hawk – several seen nearly every year from 1957-1978. More common before the county became so urban
Long-eared Owl from 2019 - details and photograph
Glaucous Gull from 2001 and 2023 – details and photo available
Long-billed Dowitcher from 2023 - details and photo available
King Rail from 1962, 1964, 1969
Couch’s/Tropical Kingbird from 2005 – details and photograph
White-eyed Vireo from 2009 and 2019 - details available
Townsend’s Solitaire from 1973
Northern Parula Warbler from 2000 – details available
Nashville Warbler (2) from 1995 and 2010 – details available
Chestnut-sided Warbler - from 2012 - details available
Mourning Warbler (1) from 1991
Summer Tanager (1) from 2019 and again in 2023 - details and photograph
Western Tanager (1) from 1996 – details available
Green-tailed Towhee (1) from 2015 - details and photograph. Seen by many over several days.
Blue Grosbeak from 1976 (I actually met the woman who had this bird at her feeder for a few weeks during that year.)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (male) from 1999 and 2006 – details available for both years
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