 122th Christmas Bird Count
Nokesville Circle
79 Species Recorded
Count Date: Sunday, December 26, 2021
View data from all Nokesville Circle counts here. View data on the Audubon Society CBC Results webpage here.
Highlights of the December 26 2021 Nokesville CBC included a Yellow-breasted Chat at Foggy Bottom Wetland, and two Wilson's Snipe at the Route 234 Wetland Mitigation Area.
We saw two barn owls in Nokesville and a total of five Barred Owls, with two at Merrimac Farm WMA, one at the Cedar Run Wetland, one in Fauquier County, and one flying by the Pollinator Garden at the PWC Landfill.
There were 20 Red-headed Woodpeckers were seen at MCB Quantico, Merrimac Farm WMA, and the Cedar Run Wetland Bank. And with numbers exceeding 10,000, Common Grackles made a memorable showing this year.
Now in its 122th 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, 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 Reservoir near I-95 to Catlett in Fauquier County. The count circle includes portions of Prince William Forest 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.
The count circle covers much of Prince William's Rural Crescent, where 10-acre subdivisions, small farms and private ponds of all sizes are common. In Fauquier, birders survey small hamlets along Elk Run Road and near Bristersburg, as well as most of Catlett, and Calverton. |