The Bristol Christmas Bird Count, held Sunday Dec. 28, totaled 82 species -- seven short of the region's record high count at Bristol in 1998. This is Northeast Tennessee's and Southwest Virginia's oldest count, first held Dec.1931. The count area includes portions of Sullivan Co., TN and Washington Co., VA. The total is two species below the previous five year average. It's equal to the recent 10 year average and seven above the 20 year average. The total number of individual birds was just 6,353 almost half of the 10-year average. This may reflect mild weather on the count day. The lower number produced significant decreased in observations of Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, House Finch, Carolina Chickadee, Eastern Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren and Dark-eyed Junco. Most are frequent at feeders, despite the count not having any observers reporting only as feeder watchers. NOTEWORTHY MISSES: Eared Grebe, Bonaparte's Gull. This year's list: Horned Grebe 3 Pied-billed Grebe 37 Common Loon 15 Great Blue Heron 16 Black-crowned Night-Heron 2 ( 2nd consecutive year, record high) Bufflehead 259 (stable population since 1997, Avg. Year = 252) American Black Duck 8 Ring-necked Duck 31 Gadwall 30 Common Goldeneye 1 Canada Goose 740 ( population growth leveled off for 3rd year at 127 above 10 year average) Snow Goose 5 (record high) Mallard 377 ( just over 50% of 10 year average) Hooded Merganser 129 ( population down about 25 % of 10 year average, second lowest in 10 years ) Lesser Scaup 3 Green-winged Teal 3 American Wigeon 9 ( 57 below 10 year average ) Bald Eagle 1 Cooper's Hawk 2 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 Red-tailed Hawk 18 ( second lowest in 10 years) American Kestrel 18 ( 36% less than 10 year average ) Merlin 1 (4th consecutive year ) Black Vulture 19 Turkey Vulture 123 Wild Turkey 7 American Coot 32 Killdeer 19 Common Snipe 3 Herring Gull 1 Ring-billed Gull 241 Mourning Dove 219 (lowest in 15 years) Rock Pigeon (Rock Dove) 144 (lowest in 13 years) Barred Owl 1 Eastern Screech Owl 4 Great Horned Owl 6 Belted Kinfisher 16 Northern Flicker 21 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 14 (ties count record high) Downy Woodpecker 27 Hairy Woodpecker 8 Pileated Woodpecker 20 Red-bellied Woodpecker 20 Eastern Phoebe 8 American Crow 551 Blue Jay 117 Common Raven 1 ( 9th consecutive year, 16 years since first in 1983) Carolina Chickadee 123 Eastern Tufted Titmouse 48 ( about 50% of 10 year average) Brown Creeper 4 White-breasted Nuthatch 22 Carolina Wren 73 Winter Wren 9 Golden-crowned Kinglet 35 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 17 Eastern Bluebird 108 American Robin 211 Hermit Thrush 6 Northern Mockingbird 98 Loggerhead Shrike 2 ( continues to be regular ) European Starling 823 Cedar Waxwing 88 Palm Warbler 7 ( 3rd year, previous high count 1) Pine Warbler 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler 96 ( 3rd highest count) Northern Cardinal 146 Dark-eyed Junco 53 (very low, 33% of 10 year average) Chipping Sparrow 7 Field Sparrow 10 Savannah Sparrow 20 (record high count, 6th year on count) Song Sparrow 154 Swamp Sparrow 8 White-crowned Sparrow 168 ( 2nd highest count) White-throated Sparrow 180 Eastern Towhee 25 Red-winged Blackbird 93 (highest count in 20+ years) Common Grackle 30 Eastern Meadowlark 7 (lowest count in 13 years) House Finch 95 Purple Finch 32 (second highest since 1977) American Goldfinch 201 House Sparrow 11 (ties lowest count record) Compiled by Richard Lewis for 23rd consecutive year ! Wallace Coffey's 45th consecutive count year and in his count sector. The count had 21 birders in six party sectors. Participants: Bert Hale, Lorraine Hale, Lindzey Hale, Bob Quillen, Rick Knight, Tom McNeil, Marion Finucane, Bill Grigsby, Wallace Coffey, Rack Cross, Andy Jones, Mike Poe, Dexter Newman, Richard Lewis, Vickie Lewis, Larry McDaniel, Dave Worley, Janice Martin, Ruth Smith, Ron Carrico, Rob Biller. Let's go birding.... 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