Besides a tremendous statistical data Christmas Bird Counts gather each year, they also have a habit of discovering some truly unusual birds. One of my favorite examples occurred last week.
A birder doing a bird count in South Carolina was in a location that only allows access for the bird count. He photographed a small sandpiper that appeared to be Little Stint, a species native to Eurasia and very rare in North America. It happened to have a metal band on its legs and close inspection of photographs were able to reveal a code that traced the bird back to Ottenby Bird Observatory off the east coast of Sweden, where it had been banded in September of this year.
Sadly both of my CBCs were cancelled this year due to concerns about pandemic.
A birder doing a bird count in South Carolina was in a location that only allows access for the bird count. He photographed a small sandpiper that appeared to be Little Stint, a species native to Eurasia and very rare in North America. It happened to have a metal band on its legs and close inspection of photographs were able to reveal a code that traced the bird back to Ottenby Bird Observatory off the east coast of Sweden, where it had been banded in September of this year.
Sadly both of my CBCs were cancelled this year due to concerns about pandemic.
There is also a spring/summer cousin to the CBC, the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). https://www.usgs.gov/centers/pwrc/science/north-american-bre...