Barb Meyer spots a great blue heron during the Christmas Bird Count in 2018.

JOHN DAY — Volunteers spotted a larger than usual number of species but a below-average number of individuals during the 42nd annual John Day Christmas Bird Count, according to Tom Winters, who organized the count.

A dozen birders fanned out on Dec. 27 to conduct the count, while two more stayed home and tallied all the birds that came to their backyard feeders. The data they collected will be sent to the National Audubon Society, which has been coordinating the annual counts since 1900.

Altogether, local birders tabulated 2,924 individuals from 74 species, Winters said, compared to an average of 4,218 individuals and 64 species. Over the years, the number of species has ranged from 42 to 78. The lowest number of individuals ever counted was 1,855 while the highest was 25,577. That eye-popping total, Winters recalled, came in the mid-1980s when vast flocks of robins descended on the area.

Waterfowl were especially well-represented in the 2022 count, Winters said, possibly because it was conducted during a cold snap.

“I think they were a little more visible because so much water was frozen,” he said. “There were fewer places for them to be.”

Perhaps for the same reason, unusual waterfowl sightings were among the highlights of the 2022 John Day count, including a canvasback (a first for the area), a couple of redheads and an all-time high number of ring-necked ducks (50). Volunteers also spotted a ferruginous hawk, only the second one to be recorded in the John Day Christmas count.

The most numerous species in 2022 count was the European starling, an invasive bird introduced to North America in the late 19th century, with 388 individuals counted. Volunteers also tallied 353 dark-eyed juncos (345 of the Oregon subspecies and eight of the slate-colored variety), 318 California quail, 228 house sparrows and 176 Eurasian collared doves, another widely distributed invader.

Here is the complete list of species spotted in the 2022 John Day Christmas count, with the number of individuals in parentheses:

Canada goose (131), wood duck (20), gadwall (3), American wigeon (6), northern shoveler (2), mallard (167), green-winged teal (17), canvasback (1), redhead (2), ring-necked duck (50), hooded merganser (18), common merganser (13), mountain quail (2), California quail (318), wild turkey (73), rock pigeon (17), Eurasian collared dove (176), mourning dove (58), American coot (7), killdeer (1), great blue heron (7), golden eagle (5), northern harrier (3), sharp-shinned hawk (2), Cooper’s hawk (6), northern goshawk (1), bald eagle (14), red-tailed hawk (39), Rough-legged Hawk (4), Ferruginous Hawk (1), Great Horned Owl (3), Belted Kingfisher (3), red-breasted sapsucker (1), downy woodpecker (6), hairy woodpecker (3), northern flicker (24 with one being the eastern variety — yellow-shafted), American kestrel (6), merlin (1), prairie falcon (3), northern shrike (3), Canada jay (1), Steller’s jay (10), California scrub jay (31), Clark’s nutcracker (12), black-billed magpie (75), American crow (5), common raven (139), black-capped chickadee (34), mountain chickadee (8), bushtit (11), golden-crowned kinglet (3), ruby-crowned kinglet (19), Bohemian waxwing (2), cedar waxwing (154), brown creeper (1), Pacific wren (3), American dipper (2), Townsend’s solitaire (54), American robin (36), varied thrush (1), European starling (388), house sparrow (228), evening grosbeak (2), house finch (33), purple finch (1), Cassin’s finch (15), lesser goldfinch (22), American goldfinch (27), dark-eyed Junco — Oregon (345) and slate-colored (8), white-crowned sparrow (10), golden-crowned sparrow (3), song sparrow (17), Lincoln’s sparrow (1), spotted towhee (5) and yellow-rumped warbler (3).

Species seen during count week but missed that day include trumpeter swan, bufflehead, Virginia rail, barn owl, red-breasted nuthatch and marsh wren.

Access to key counting areas was provided by the Holmstrom, Lemons and Crown (Carter) Ranches, the Pike family and Iron Triangle.

Participants were Mike Bohannon, Adele Cerny, Susan Church, Randy Hennen, Karen Jacobs, Betsy Koncerak, Clarence and Marilyn O’Leary, Ray Poe, Morgan Reid, Jim Soupir and Allen Taylor. Anne Frost and Eva Harris kept track of their yard birds.