Results of the Crossville Christmas Bird Count in Cumberland County, Tennessee, 2006-present

A male Northern Harrier found along Nicholson Rd., Cumberland County, Tennessee, just before the period of the CBC in Crossville; photo DJ Stanley (5 December 2008).

The first Crossville Christmas Bird Count (CBC) was conducted December 23, 2006, with a large corps of field observers (20) and a feederwatcher participating.  Totaling 78 species during its inaugural bird-counting effort, this CBC sampled a wide variety of sites ranging in elevation from the northern end of Sequatchie Valley (about 1100 ft) to the tops of Black (about 2800 ft), Brady (about 2900 ft), and Hinch (about 3000 ft) mountains.

    The second Crossville CBC, conducted December 22, 2007, resulted in the extraordinary species total of 92, making it the first Regional CBC to surpass the 90-species barrier.  The third Crossville CBC was conducted 17 December 2008,  a day with fairly steady light rain and moderate fog, factors that somewhat reduced the number of participants, as well as the count species total, which came in at a respectable 82.

    Some of the sites found within the 15-mile-diameter circle delineating the 177-square-mile Crossville CBC include nearly all of the city of Crossville, all of Cumberland Mountain Farm (private), all of Cumberland Mountain State Park, all of the segments of Cumberland Trail State Park lying along Black and Brady Mountains, Lakes Hiawatha, Holiday, and Tansi, and Meadow Park Lake.  The aforementioned lakes in particular were responsible for providing habitat for many waterfowl and water-related species, such as Bald Eagle, that helped to make the species total accumulated on this CBC an impressive one for a count being conducted for the first time and for a count located on the Cumberland Plateau, where a slightly less dense and diverse population of winter bird species was assumed to reside than is found at adjacent sites of lower elevation.  The assumption of lesser bird species diversity on the plateau was not borne out, or only weakly borne out, by the results of the first Crossville CBC, which produced almost as many species as were found at some CBC sites of lower elevation (i.e., Clay County, Cookeville, and White County) and as many or more species as were found at some other CBC sites of lower elevation (i.e., DeKalb County and Warren County).  The assumption of lesser bird density at sites on the plateau than at sites of lower elevation was borne out for some species, but not for others, as explained in the next paragraph.

    One of the more interesting features of the Crossville CBC was to see how the individual species totals accumulated on it compared to individual species totals accumulated on CBCs conducted on the adjacent, lower Highland Rim (i.e., at sites such as Cookeville and White County).  The Crossville CBC results revealed considerable differences in numbers for some species residing in each of these physiographic provinces, but not for others.  For example, Hairy and Pileated woodpeckers appear to populate the Cumberland Plateau more densely than they do the Highland Rim, while the Turkey Vulture, American Kestrel, and Hermit Thrush less densely populate the Plateau than the Highland Rim.  Still other species-- such as Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe, and Carolina Chickadee--appear to populate the Plateau and the Highland Rim in about the same density.  You may see the specific results of the Crossville CBC for these species and for many others in the table below, as well as at the following page of this website, which lists totals for all species found on all Upper Cumberland Region CBCs:

• Summary of CBCs in the UCR during 2008-2009 CBC Season
• Summary of CBCs in the UCR during 2007-2008 CBC Season
• Summary of CBCs in the UCR during 2006-2007 CBC Season

    Edmund K. LeGrand (EKL) and Joseph E. Mast (JEM) co-compiled the Crossville Christmas Bird Count during the 2006-2007 CBC season, the inaugural season for this site, and they have continued their joint effort since then.

Cumulative Species List for All UCR CBCs