Tag Archives: Christmas Bird Count Connecticut

Snowy Christmas Bird Count

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Great blue heron in snow, Christmas Bird Count 2025, Stamford, CT.

It was that type of day for the Christmas Bird Count today (Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025). Frank and I did the Cove area of Stamford (Connecticut) and nearby Darien.

The heavy snow in the morning kept many of the land birds hidden, but many of the water birds were still around, braving the elements. A few highlight species were: harlequin duck (one female), greater white-fronted goose, killdeer, yellow-bellied sapsucker, and snow bunting.

Photo by Chris Bosak
Hooded mergansers in the snow, Christmas Bird Count 2025, Stamford, Connecticut.
Female harlequin duck, Christmas Bird Count 2025, Stamford, Connecticut.
Three greater white-fronted geese with one Canada goose, Christmas Bird Count 2025, Darien, Connecticut.

For the Birds: Christmas Bird Count thrilling as always

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Photo by Chris Bosak – A merlin spotted in southern Connecticut during the Christmas Bird Count, Dec. 2024.

The Christmas Bird Count is typically one of my birding highlights of the year. This year was no exception. 

The Christmas Bird Count is a bird census conducted by volunteers each winter to track bird populations and trends. Keene was one of the original 25 locations in 1900. Now there are well more than 2,000 counts held throughout the United States and beyond.

I did my usual area along a coastal region of southwestern Connecticut. It is a good area to cover as there is a nice variety of habitats, including Long Island Sound, marshes, freshwater ponds, wooded areas and even some patches of open field.

We started, as usual, at a park that has a river on one side and a marina on the other. Long Island Sound is a mile or so to the south, so the river and marina often get winter ducks normally associated with larger bodies of water. 

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